Water resources assessment, planning and management ultimately rely on the availability of hydrological and hydrometeorological data. This course addresses aspects of data collection, data processing, data archiving as well as issues related to providing hydrological services from an operational point of view. It is composed of a series of class lectures, individual practical exercises, and group assignments.

Learning objectives

Upon completion of the course, the participants will be able to:

explain the principles and methods of stream flow measurements;
collect routine measurements using hydrometeorological instruments;
design and analyze networks for operational data collection and archiving;
process the data into a usable format for further analysis and comparison;
analyze data, extract information and present and discuss the results.

Target group

The course is meant for professionals working in the water sector. Required are a relevant education at BSc level and a basic understanding of physical hydrology. Experience in operational aspects of hydrology is a pre.

Course content

The principles and background of hydrological and hydrometeorological data collection and processing are explained in a series of class lectures. Topics include data collection networks and network design, operational, institutional and financial aspects; data bases, information dissemination and hydrological services; publicly available data sources, integration of data sources, measurement and processing of river flow data. Due attention is given to quality control of station time series and performance of data collection networks.

Practical exercises include the processing, analysis and evaluation of hydrological time series data and hands-on experience with acquisition and processing of data from internet archives.

Working in small groups, participants will gain experience in using hydrometeorological instruments at the ‘roof meteorological station’ while collecting observation data during the period of one week. The measurements are processed and the results are presented in a report and an oral presentation.

The course materials consist of lecture notes, powerpoint presentations and additional hand-outs.

Lecturers

The instructors for this course are T. Boogaard, PhD and R. Venneker, PhD.

Examination

It is possible to take part in the examination of this short course. If you obtain a passing mark for this examination and return to UNESCO-IHE within four years after completion of the short course to follow a full MSc programme, you will receive exemption for this short course/module. The costs for this exam are €250 extra and should be borne by yourself. Taking part in the examination is not compulsory.

Additional information

Additional reading:

Chow, V.T., Maidment, D.R., and Mays, LW. (1988) Applied Hydrology, McGraw-Hill, New York.
WMO (1994) Guide to Hydrological Practices, 5th ed., WMO-No. 168. Chapters 20, 21.
WMO (Terakawa, A) (2003) Hydrological Data Management: Present State and Trends, WMO-No. 964. (Available through http://www.wmo.int/).
WMO (2008) Guide to Meteorological Instruments and Methods of Observation, 7th ed., (Available through http://www.wmo.int/).