COURSE SYLLABUS
SCHEDULE OF
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COURSE GOALS |
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ENVIRONMENTAL HYDROLOGY
Earth
Science 341
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Spring, 2012
ASSIGNMENTS
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Assignments are due on the date shown below.
In general, late homework will not be
accepted. If you have a special
situation that prevents you from turning it
in on time, please talk with me about it
before the assignment is due and make
arrangements for an alternate plan.
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Unless otherwise specified, assignments
should be completed as though you are preparing
a report for a client or employer. Assignments should adhere to the
following standards:
4Assignments
should be typed; calculations may be printed neatly
by hand.
4Write
your name, date, and assignment number on every
assignment.
4Cite the source of
anything that does not come from your own
brain.
4Use a professional scientific voice:
be organized, clear, and concise; avoid using
"we", "I", "our", and "my".
4Use tables when appropriate to
simplify data presentation.
Every table needs a title, and every
row and column needs a heading. If data
are quantitative, specify the
units of expression.
4If you use a table to
summarize results of repeated
calculations, give a sample
calculation to illustrate how you
performed the
calculations.
4Use diagrams and illustrations to explain and simplify the
presentation of information.
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Assignment 1: E-mail me!
Due Thursday, January 12, 2012.
Log in to the e-mail account you use most often, and
create a message to send to Dr. Sanders.
In the subject line, put your full name (yes, first and
last!) and the words ENVI HYDRO.
In the message itself, please share information about
how to best contact you during the semester (for
example, for a class announcement, notice of a job
opportunity, or to alert you if school closes due to a
snow emergency).
After you send your message, I will reply with a message
authorizing you to sign in to the class wiki.
Please give it a try and let me know right away if you
have problems logging in. |
Assignment 2: The Worldwide
Water Budget. Due Tuesday, January
17, 2012.
A) Use Excel to complete this exercise. Using Table 1.1 in the textbook, determine the
evapotranspiration rate (listed as just "evaporation",
a misnomer)
for each continent as a percentage of precipitation for
the continent. Note any striking differences,
trends, or relationships, and propose explanations for
them.
B) Compare the values (tabulated and calculated) for
North America and South America, and write a few
sentences that highlight any remarkable differences.
Print your table from part A and your discussion from
parts A and B, and hand them in.
C) Part 1: Imagine you are asked by a local citizen's action
group to give a presentation on the water cycle in a particular continent listed in Table
1.1. (We will choose/assign different continents
in class.) Create a diagram/illustration
that shows the relationships between and among the water
processes. Use labeled arrows to indicate each
process, and show the quantity of water moved by each
one. The illustration should be understandable by
the people in your audience (the citizen's group).
Part 2:
Put your diagram into PowerPoint (as you
would do if you were making a presentation). You
can do this using the drawing tools in PowerPoint, or by
scanning your diagram and pasting the image into a
slide. Type your continent's name at the top of
the slide. Save your slide, using your last name as
the file name. Come to class a minute or two early
on the day it is due, and before class, save your file
to the desktop on the computer at the front of the room.
Be ready to share your diagram in class.
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Assignment 3: Finding Stream
Data. Due date Thursday, January 19,
2012.
A) Using the USGS website, locate
stream flow data for Illinois. Spend some time
getting to know the data pages, and then find a stream
gage that meet the following criteria:
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Drainage area for the gaged watershed is between 20 and
45 square miles
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gage is currently operating
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Records of stream discharge are available for at least
25 years (back to at least 1987; longer is better).
B) Log in to the class wiki, and click
the "Stream Gages" page. Click the "Edit Page"
button in the upper right. (If you do not see this
button, it means you are not logged in. Click
"Sign in" at the bottom left of the page, and log in to
your account.) While in Edit mode, type to
complete a row of the table by filling in the
information requested.
NOTE: Every student must choose a *different*
gage! Once a class member posts a gage name,
others may not use it. |
Assignment 4:
Evaporation Data. Due date Thursday,
February 23, 2012. You selected a stream gage
in Assignment 3, and that gage defines a watershed.
With respect to that watershed, do the following:
Step 1) Delineate the watershed on 7.5-minute topographic maps.
Step 2) Determine the county(ies) in which the watershed falls.
Step 3) Determine which pan evaporation stations best represent the
watershed.
Step 4) Tabulate the available evaporation data for the watershed (using
more than one station if necessary).
Step 5) Determine the volume of water evaporated annually from open water
surfaces from the watershed.
Step 6) Determine the area of open water surfaces in the watershed.
Hand in the following:
1) A map of the watershed based on your 7.5-minute
topographic map delineation. The map should
include the following features: title, scale,
north arrow, locations of major cities/towns, county
line(s) (if applicable), locations of major
highways/routes, streams and lakes, gage location(s),
and an index map of Illinois showing the location of the
watershed.
2) A map of Illinois showing the locations of pan
evaporation stations in the state, and your watershed.
(Remember that every map needs a scale and north arrow.)
3) A table of pan evaporation data for your watershed
(using as many stations as are applicable).
4) Calculations and a 1-2 paragraph description of the
average annual depth of open water surface evaporation
in your watershed, the total volume of water evaporated
from open water surfaces, and the depth of water
evaporated if it were spread across the entire
watershed. |
Assignment 5: Water
Balance. Due Thursday, March 1, 2012.
Using data from the USGS, NCDC, Illinois State
Climatologist, and other reliable sources, create a
water budget for your watershed. In the water
budget, show the inflows and outflows in consistent
units of measurement.
You may assume that ground water flow into or out of the
basin is negligible. Use at least 25 years' worth
of records; ideally you should use as many years of data
as you have stream flow records. You may find that
you have to do some hunting to find an appropriate
precipitation gage (or gages). For lake
evaporation data, use as many years of data as you can
find, and assume those values are representative of the
other years.
Your work should be completed in Excel. Create
multiple worksheets. The first should have the
water budget itself, showing INFLOW and OUTFLOWS
averaged over the period of years you used (in other
words, you will have just one number for each of the
items in the water budget. The other worksheets
should include the data for Precipitation, Evaporation
(if relevant to your basin), Streamflow, and
Evapotranspiration (each one on its own worksheet).
Don't forget to include headings on all columns and rows
in every table. Be sure to specify units of
measurement! |
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