Hydrology

Water covers 70% of the Earth's surface

Vew of Fernando de Noronha, Brazil

Hydrology is the study of movement, distribution, and quality of water throughout the Earth. A person who studies hydrology is called a hydrologist.

The central theme of hydrology is how the water circulates. This is called the water cycle. The most vivid illustration of it is the water evaporation from the ocean with the formation of clouds. These clouds drift over the land and produce rain.

Hydrology Media

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  Rain falling over a drainage basin in Scotland. Understanding the cycling of water into, through, and out of catchments is a key element of hydrology.

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  The Roman aqueduct at Caesarea Maritima, bringing water from the wetter Carmel mountains to the settlement

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  Building a map of groundwater contours

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  A flood hydrograph showing stage for the Shawsheen River at Wilmington

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  A standard NOAA rain gauge

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  Estimates of changes in water storage around the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, measured by NASA's GRACE satellites. The satellites measure tiny changes in gravitational acceleration, which can then be processed to reveal movement of water due to changes in its total mass.

Related pages

• Civil engineering
• Climatology
• Hydraulics
• Hydrography