Progress in Modern Hydrology: Past, Present and Future

ISBN-13: 9781119074274 / Angielski / Twarda / 2015 / 408 str.

John C. Rodda; Mark Robinson

Opis

This book reviews the contributions of the research teams of the staff of the Institute of Hydrology and CEH Wallingford to the advancement of UK and overseas hydrological research and practice. The hydrological research laboratory at Wallingford has had a central role in many aspects of the development of UK hydrological sciences and related areas for half a century, as well as an impact internationally. The book contains a series of 12 chapters written collaboratively by staff; each chapter will deal with a major theme in the modern hydrology. These include the ability to: measure water quantities and extremes of flows; to better understand flood risk; water scarcity; understand processes and so better predict and model; water chemistry - which can be as important as quantity; vital relations between hydrology and ecosystems; how to manage and organise these data to better manage the resource; the crucial role of hydrology to world climate as water vapour is a major greenhouse gas. The structure of each chapter will aim follow a similar pattern: a brief historical introduction showing the key issues and challenges, the growth and attainments of the area of science concerned and the challenges for the future.

The text will be written by current and former members of staff of the Wallingford Laboratory and compiled by co-editors. The number of authors and the way their contributions will be assembled into chapters has been decided in outline. Their sequence will aim to follow the history of the development of the science from its start at HRS, through HRU and IH to CEH, the innovations brought about and where the research will anticipate future problems in the water world. The book will aim to cover the demand for improved knowledge in order to enhance practice, leading to discussion of the results achieved in terms of the scientific advances and how these were disseminated to the stakeholders.

Contents

Twelve chapters are foreseen: 1) Basin Studies 2) Instrument development and deployment. 3) Flood studies: risks and extremes 4) Studies of hydrological processes -- physical and biological. 5) Water resources security, development and management. 6) Hydrological modelling of water quantity/flows. 7) Water quality. 8) Eco-hydrology 9) Contributions to national and international programmes 10) Climate change and Global Circulation Models 11) Data acquisition and exploitation 12) Integrating Science and looking to the future.

Background: The pace of development in Britain during Victorian Times and in the first half of the 20th Century led to the earlier warnings of Thomas Malthus at the end of the 18th Century to be largely forgotten. That natural resources are finite and need husbanding and managing in a sustainable fashion were, in general, largely ignored in the decisions made by government, public and private industry and by individuals. However, by the 1950s, with the recovery of industrial production, and a better educated and burgeoning population, concern about the overuse of natural resources and worries about the mis-use of the environment started to grow. Afforestation of large areas of upland Britain with commercial conifers was one policy which seemed to be in direct conflict with the safe supply of water resources and wider concern for the environment. Growing realisation in government and the water industry that future water resources would not be sufficient to meet the rapidly rising demand was crystallised and given added urgency largely by the unexpected results from a small-scale experiment on a stand of conifers at Stocks Reservoir (Law 1956, 57 58). The findings, if proved correct, indicated that the trees used an extra 30% of the water that would otherwise have run into the reservoir, representing a serious reduction in the available resource and an economic loss for the water company. More than anything else, the initial impetus to modern hydrological sciences in the UK was the need to answer the fundamental question 'Do trees use more water than grass on a basin scale?'

Spis treści

List of Contributors ix

Chapter Reviewers xiii

Foreword xv

Preface xvii

Acknowledgements xix

Acronyms xxi

1 INTRODUCTION 1
John C. Rodda, Mark Robinson, Jim McCulloch, Christine McCulloch, Alan Jenkins, Terry Marsh, Celia Kirby, Ian Littlewood, Max Beran and Graham Leeks

2 BASIN STUDIES AND INSTRUMENTATION 23
Ian Strangeways, Mark Robinson, Jim Hudson, John C. Rodda, Malcolm Newson and David J. Cooper

3 RISKS AND EXTREMES 60
Lisa Stewart, Max Beran, Frank Farquharson, Duncan Faulkner, David Jones, Thomas Kjeldsen, Malcolm Newson, Enda O Connell and John Sutcliffe

4 TERRESTRIAL HYDROLOGICAL PROCESSES 100
David J. Cooper, John Bell, Martin Hodnett, Keith Beven, Kevin Gilman, Atul Haria, Cate Gardner, Mark Robinson, Jon Evans and Helen Ward

5 THE PHYSICS OF ATMOSPHERIC INTERACTION 135
Colin Lloyd and Sylvia Oliver

6 WATER RESOURCES SECURITY 183
Frank Farquharson, Max Beran, John Bromley, Alan Gustard, Helen Houghton–Carr, Gwyn Rees, John Sutcliffe and Andy Young

7 HYDROLOGICAL MODELLING 216
Keith Beven, James Bathurst, Enda O Connell, Ian Littlewood, Jim Blackie and Mark Robinson

8 WATER QUALITY 240
Richard Williams, Colin Neal, Helen Jarvie, Andrew Johnson, Paul Whitehead, Mike Bowes and Alan Jenkins

9 ECOHYDROLOGY 267
Mike C. Acreman, James R. Blake, Laurence R. Carvalho, Mike J. Dunbar, Iain D. M. Gunn, Alan Gustard, Ian D. Jones, Cedric Laizé, Stephen C. Maberly, Eleanor B. Mackay, Linda May, J. Owen Mountford, Bryan M. Spears, Charlie J. Stratford, Stephen J. Thackeray and Ian J. Winfield

10 CLIMATE CHANGE AND HYDROLOGY 302
Richard Harding, Nigel Arnell, Nick Reynard, Christel Prudhomme, Eleanor Blyth and Chris Taylor

11 HYDROLOGICAL DATA ACQUISITION AND EXPLOITATION 324
Terry Marsh, Roger Moore, Harry Dixon, Jamie Hannaford, Alan Gustard, Andy Young, Melinda Lewis, Colin Neal and Gwyn Rees

12 LOOKING TOWARDS THE FUTURE 366
John C. Rodda, Mark Robinson, Alan Jenkins, Keith Beven, Max Beran and Graham Leeks

Index 379

O autorze

John Rodda has a life time of experience as a hydrologist with UK  governmental and international  bodies, particularly  the World Meteorological Organization, Geneva, where he was Director of the Hydrology & Water Resources Department.  He has authored some 100 scientific papers and 8 books on a wide range of topics. He has held the office of President of the International Association of Hydrological Sciences and several other prominent positions in the international world of water.

Mark Robinson  has a lengthy career as a  hydrologist, working at the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Institute of Hydrology and at several UK universities. His work has encompassed land use change studies including agricultural drainage and forest hydrology, and for over a decade he was responsible for some of the UK s longest running catchment studies. He has published extensively and is co–author of two highly regarded hydrological textbooks.

Blurb

Hydrology is vital to human civilisations as well as to natural ecosystems, yet it has only emerged as a distinct scientific discipline during the last 50 years or so. This book reviews the development of modern hydrology primarily through the experiences of the multidisciplinary team of scientists and engineers at Wallingford, near Oxford, who have been at the forefront of many of the developments in UK hydrological research. These topics include:

 The development of basic understanding through  the collection of data with specialised instrumentation in experimental basins
 The study of extreme flows both floods and droughts
 The role moisture in the soil
 Studies of the processes controlling  evaporation
 Water resource studies
 Modelling and prediction of the extremes of flow improved
 Understanding of water quality issues
 A widening recognition of the importance of an ecosystem approach 
 Meeting the challenges of climate change,
 Data handling
 Future developments in hydrology and the pressures which generate them.

Readership: hydrologists in both academia and a wide range of applied fields such as civil engineering, meteorology, geography and physics, as well as advanced students in earth science, environmental science and physical geography programmes worldwide.