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Catchment zone in Nattai, Australia containing drinking water. Catchment hydrology is the study of hydrology in drainage basins. Catchments are areas of land where runoff collects to a specific zone. This movement is caused by water moving from areas of high energy to low energy due to the influence of gravity.
Watershed delineation is the process of identifying the boundary of a watershed, also referred to as a catchment, drainage basin, or river basin.It is an important step in many areas of environmental science, engineering, and management, for example to study flooding, aquatic habitat, or water pollution.
Isotope hydrology – the study of the isotopic signatures of water; Surface hydrology – the study of hydrologic processes that operate at or near the Earth's surface; Catchment hydrology – study of the governing processes in a given hydrologically defined catchment
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. Hydrology (from Ancient Greek ὕδωρ (húdōr) 'water' and -λογία () 'study of') is the scientific study of the movement, distribution, and management of water on Earth and other planets, including the water cycle, water resources, and ...
Moreover, a catchment area can span through more than one climate and lead to more complex interactions between the climate and the regime. A discharge pattern can closely resemble the rainfall pattern [ 3 ] since rainfall in a river's catchment area contributes to its water flow, rise of the underground water and filling of lakes.
Surface and air temperatures, insolation, and wind all affect this. A dryland is a place where annual potential evaporation exceeds annual precipitation . Often a value for the potential evapotranspiration is calculated at a nearby climatic station on a reference surface, conventionally on land dominated by short grass (though this may differ ...
The assumption that an air mass moving over a vegetated surface with abundant water saturates has been questioned later. The atmosphere's lowest and most turbulent part, the atmospheric boundary layer , is not a closed box but constantly brings in dry air from higher up in the atmosphere towards the surface.
Developing water budgets is a fundamental activity in the science of hydrology. According to the US Geological Survey: [ 4 ] An understanding of water budgets and underlying hydrologic processes provides a foundation for effective water-resource and environmental planning and management.