Advances in Hydrological Processes – serie

This book deals with the technical problems encountered in hydrological applications of GIS, at scales ranging from the catchment to short river reaches and on a wide range of hydrological processes in both pure and applied contexts.

There is a growing need for appropriate models which address the management of land and water resources and ecosystems at large space and time scales. Theories of non-linear hydrological processes must be extrapolated to large-scale, three-dimensional natural systems such as drainage basins, flood plains and wetlands. This book reports on recent progress in research on scale issues in hydrological modelling. It brings together 27 papers from two special issues of the journal Hydrological Processes. The book makes a significant contribution towards developing research strategies for linking model parameterisations across a range of temporal and spatial scales. The papers selected for this book reflect the tremendous advances which have been made in research into scale issues in hydrological modelling during the last ten years.

The current popularity of the rainfall-runoff model Topmodel is a direct result of the widespread availability of catchment GIS systems and particularly of digital terrain maps. Water flows downhill, therefore topography must be hydrologically significant, therefore how can the digital terrain data be used in hydrological modelling to improve the realism of the predictions? There are not many choices available: Topmodel is one of them but the concepts on which it is based will not be applicable everywhere (see some of the papers in this volume). Indeed, one of the most important aspects of the use of Topmodel is the possibility of mapping the simulations back into space so that the distributed predictions can be compared with field observations. The experiences reported here in applications from around the world represent an excellent summary of the success and limitations of the concepts in a wide variety of environments. Topmodel was never intended to be a fixed model structure but rather a set of concepts that could be modified if required. As such it is important that the experiences of other uses can be gathered together and passed on.

Water is, perhaps, the single most important substance on earth. It forms the basis for life as we know it. Organisms, including human beings, can only survive if there is an adequate supply of water available. In addition, the water must be of the proper quality to support life. The living world has evolved and adjusted over hundreds of millions of years to the variation in the natural distribution and chemical composition of water at the earth's surface. Water Quality Trends and Geochemical Mass Balance provides an overview of the tracking of water quality changes, through both trend analysis and geochemical mass balances. This volume will serve to extend our understanding of those processes and encourage innovative applications of these data analysis techniques for the study of environmental systems. Also, one should not discount the continuing need for quality environmental monitoring data to provide the basic building blocks used for the trend and mass balance assessments presented herein.

Looks at exciting developments in sophisticated numerical analysis techniques in the environmental sciences illustrating the application scope for such techniques.High resolution hydraulic modelling is becoming accepted as a standard research methodology by hydrologists, geomorphologists and engineers. As a consequence of the development of process understanding, numerical analysis techniques and computer power, there is now enormous potential to connect complex flow processes to the landforms they create in a rigorous, quantitative manner that has not hitherto, been possible.This volume provides an integrated coverage of this topic, outlining major research developments that have taken place. It begins with an introductory chapter on hydraulic theory, and then concentrates on high dimensional and high resolution approaches, detailing current research debates in hydraulic modelling. There is comprehensive coverage of application scope for such techniques including flow development, sediment transport, pollutant transport, catchment hydrology and landform development.This readable and accessible book provides an introduction to geomorphology students attempting to familiarise themselves with these exciting developments and also gives researchers invaluable articles illustrating the scope for high resolution hydraulic modelling and the fundamental scientific and philosophical problems raised.