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  6. GG5079: Water in the Environment

GG5079: WATER IN THE ENVIRONMENT (2024-2025)

Last modified: 30 Aug 2024 11:46


Course Overview

The course will provide both conceptual and process-based overviews for understanding the movement and storage of water in the environment and how this underpins the availability and quantitative assessment of water as a resource. The importance of physical hydrology for understanding the quality and ecological aspects of water resources will also be highlighted.

Course Details

Study Type Postgraduate Level 5
Term First Term Credit Points 15 credits (7.5 ECTS credits)
Campus Aberdeen Sustained Study No
Co-ordinators
  • Professor Chris Soulsby

What courses & programmes must have been taken before this course?

  • Any Postgraduate Programme

What other courses must be taken with this course?

None.

What courses cannot be taken with this course?

None.

Are there a limited number of places available?

No

Course Description

The course will provide a comprehensive, interdisciplinary introduction to hydrology as a quantitative basis for understanding water resource fundamentals.

The six main components of the course will be:

  • Hydroclimate and water: This will consider how climate is a first order control on the timing and quantity of water resource availability. The way in which this relates to extremes of flood and droughts will also be considered. A global perspective will be adopted to highlight the importance of quantifying the water balance at multiple spatial and temporal scales. The growing importance of climate variability and change for water security will be stressed.
  • Soils, geology and subsurface water: This section will focus on the importance of freshwater water resources stored in the subsurface and the crucial roles that soil water and groundwater play in determining water availability. The critical role of soil in the water balance will stressed and the basic principles of groundwater storage, recharge and movement will be outlined. The challenges for quantifying these storage and flux dynamics will be demonstrated.
  • Ecohydrology: the important influence that land use and vegetation have on water partitioning will be explored. The uncertainties in quantifying how natural vegetation communities recycle water and regulate “green water” fluxes of evapotranspiration back to the atmosphere will be demonstrated. This will be used as a basis for understanding how land use change in terms of urbanisation, agriculture and forestry can fundamentally affect water availability at different scales.
  • Surface waters: this component will consider how stream flow is generated in different geographical environments and how this is affected by hydroclimatic extremes and land use change. The importance of these “blue water” fluxes in sustaining surface water resources will be stressed. The challenges in quantifying surface water resources, including river flows, lakes and reservoirs will be considered.
  • Water quality: the concept of water quality will be examined in the context of water resources. The basic physical, chemical and biological components of water quality will be explained. Natural variations in water quality will be demonstrated and the main sources and problems of water pollution be considered. The importance of water quality with respect to water use will be considered from the perspective of water security.
  • Water and sustaining ecosystem services: The concept of ecosystems services will be examined and the importance of understanding and prioritising their protection in the context of potentially competing societal demands will be stressed. Defining and using “ecological status” and the health of aquatic ecosystems as a benchmark for sustainably managing surface and subsurface water resources will be considered.

Contact Teaching Time

Information on contact teaching time is available from the course guide.

Teaching Breakdown

More Information about Week Numbers


Details, including assessments, may be subject to change until 30 August 2024 for 1st term courses and 20 December 2024 for 2nd term courses.

Summative Assessments

Report: Individual

Assessment Type Summative Weighting 50
Assessment Weeks 13 Feedback Weeks 24

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Word Count: 2,000

Project will involve and analysis of long-term (>10 years) hydrological data from two instrumented catchments where multiple time-series data are available. The catchments will contrast a wet, low energy environment with a dry high energy environment. These data encompass precipitation, evapotranspiration, soil moisture, groundwater levels and streamflow.
The project will involve downloading, organising and analysing the data to compute catchment scale water flux and storage dynamics and quantify their uncertainty. The temporal variability of these dynamics will need to be assessed, as will their spatial variability. The importance of storage dynamics and fluxes to maintain local ecosystem services will be evaluated. The potential for alternative types of water resource use will be assessed.

Learning Outcomes
Knowledge LevelThinking SkillOutcome
ConceptualEvaluateTo be able to evaluate the linkages between processes sustaining water resources and ecosystem services
ConceptualUnderstandTo be able to conceptualise the physical origins and characteristics of water resources and their sensitivity to environmental change
ProceduralAnalyseTo be able to quantify the water balance and understand its implications for water availability in diverse geographical settings
ReflectionCreateTo be able to analyse key hydrological data and evaluate associated uncertainties to create a quantitative assessment of water availability and security in contrasting environments
ReflectionEvaluateTo be able to evaluate the central importance of water quality to different water uses

Report: Individual

Assessment Type Summative Weighting 50
Assessment Weeks 19 Feedback Weeks 24

Look up Week Numbers

Feedback

Word Count: 2,000

Project will involve and analysis of long-term (>10 years) hydrological data from two instrumented catchments where multiple time-series data are available. The catchments will contrast a wet, low energy environment with a dry high energy environment. These data encompass precipitation, evapotranspiration, soil moisture, groundwater levels and streamflow.
The project will involve downloading, organising and analysing the data to compute catchment scale water flux and storage dynamics and quantify their uncertainty. The temporal variability of these dynamics will need to be assessed, as will their spatial variability. The importance of storage dynamics and fluxes to maintain local ecosystem services will be evaluated. The potential for alternative types of water resource use will be assessed.

Learning Outcomes
Knowledge LevelThinking SkillOutcome
ConceptualEvaluateTo be able to evaluate the linkages between processes sustaining water resources and ecosystem services
ConceptualUnderstandTo be able to conceptualise the physical origins and characteristics of water resources and their sensitivity to environmental change
ProceduralAnalyseTo be able to quantify the water balance and understand its implications for water availability in diverse geographical settings
ReflectionCreateTo be able to analyse key hydrological data and evaluate associated uncertainties to create a quantitative assessment of water availability and security in contrasting environments
ReflectionEvaluateTo be able to evaluate the central importance of water quality to different water uses

Formative Assessment

There are no assessments for this course.

Resit Assessments

Essay

Assessment Type Summative Weighting 100
Assessment Weeks Feedback Weeks

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Feedback

Only pass grade possible

 Word Count 4000
Learning Outcomes
Knowledge LevelThinking SkillOutcome
Sorry, we don't have this information available just now. Please check the course guide on MyAberdeen or with the Course Coordinator

Course Learning Outcomes

Knowledge LevelThinking SkillOutcome
ConceptualUnderstandTo be able to conceptualise the physical origins and characteristics of water resources and their sensitivity to environmental change
ProceduralAnalyseTo be able to quantify the water balance and understand its implications for water availability in diverse geographical settings
ConceptualEvaluateTo be able to evaluate the linkages between processes sustaining water resources and ecosystem services
ReflectionEvaluateTo be able to evaluate the central importance of water quality to different water uses
ReflectionCreateTo be able to analyse key hydrological data and evaluate associated uncertainties to create a quantitative assessment of water availability and security in contrasting environments
 

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