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701-1644-00L 5 Credits MSC D-USYS

Mountain Hydrology

Lecturers & Examiners: Prof. Dr. Katrin Di Bella Meusburger, Prof. Dr. Manuela Brunner
VVZ CR n/a

Last Updated: 2026-06-03 00:08:08

Abstract

This course presents a process-based view of the hydrology of mountain streams. Students learn how to integrate process knowledge, data, and models to understand how landscapes regulate the fluxes of water, sediment, nutrients, and pollutants in streams, and to anticipate how streams will respond to changes in land use, water use, and climate.

Objective

Main learning objective: Describe the main elements and processes and their interlinkages of the water cycle in mountain catchments and analyze their characteristics and changes. Objective 1: Identify and describe the important components of the water cycle and their influencing factors and discuss how changes in these influencing factors may affect different parts of the hydrological cycle. Objective 2: Analyse, visualize, and interpret climate and hydrological time series data. Objective 3: Explain how hydrological data are collected, how hydrological models work, how they are calibrated, and how they are evaluated.

Content

Streams are integrated monitors of the health and functioning of their surrounding landscapes. Streams integrate the fluxes of water, solutes, and sediment from their contributing catchment area; thus they reflect the spatially integrated hydrological, ecophysiological, biogeochemical, and geomorphological processes in the surrounding landscape. At a practical level, there is a significant public interest in managing upland landscapes to provide a reliable supply of high-quality surface water and to minimize the risk of catastrophic flooding and debris flows, but the scientific background for such management advice is still evolving. Using a combination of lectures, field exercises, and data analysis, we explore the processes controlling the delivery of water, solutes, and sediment to streams, and how those processes are affected by changes in land cover, land use, and climate. We review the connections between process understanding and predictive modeling in these complex environmental systems. Lectures introducing different hydrological processes accompanied by one field trip: 1. Water balance 2. Precipitation 3. Evapotranspiration 4. Soil moisture and groundwater 5. Rainfall-runoff processes 6. Extreme events 7. Forests and land-use influences 8. Tracers, isotope hydrology, and water quality 9. Snow hydrology 10. Climate change and water management influences 11. Hydrological modeling 12. Glacier hydrology

Resources

Lecture Notes

Lecture slides will be available through moodle.

Literature

Recommended and required reading will be specified at the first class session (with possible modifications as the semester proceeds).

General Information

Language
English
Levels
MSC
Frequency
Yearly recurring

Examination

Type
graded semester performance
Digital
The examination takes place on your own device. Installation of SEB required.
Written assignments (mandatory) during the semester account for 60% of the final grade.A written exam at the end of the semester accounts for 40% of the final grade.Students can use either English or German in their written work.Last cancellation/deregistration date for this graded semester performance: second Friday in October. Please note that after that date no deregistration will be accepted and the course will be considered as fail.

Course Components

Type Title Time & Place Hours
lecture with exercise Mountain Hydrology
In addition, one field trip with data collection.
No time listed 3 h weekly

Offered In