HYD300 Hydroclimatology (8)

This subject aims at understanding natural hydroclimatological variability through the analysis of past records of environmental change. It introduces the contemporary (present day) processes controlling the behaviour of water in the atmosphere and at the Earth's surface, and draws students' attention to potential future challenges in hydroclimatology resulting from increasing human impact upon the atmosphere-land-water system. This subject will address these issues using hypothetical and 'real-life' examples within lectures.

Subject Outlines
Current CSU students can view Subject Outlines for recent sessions. Please note that Subject Outlines and assessment tasks are updated each session.

No offerings have been identified for this subject in 2018.

Where differences exist between the Handbook and the SAL, the SAL should be taken as containing the correct subject offering details.

Subject Information

Grading System

HD/FL

Duration

One session

School

School of Environmental Sciences

Prerequisites

HYD200

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this subject, students should:
  • Be able to describe the underlying links between climate variability and water resources;
  • Be able to describe and explain natural hydroclimatological variability at a variety of spatial scales;
  • Be able to describe the methods used to reconstruct records of past hydroclimatological change;
  • Be able to explain the fundamental concepts and methods used in both the climatic and hydrological sciences;
  • Be able to show knowledge of stateoftheart technology and instrumentation including weather radars and satellites for realtime measurement of meteorological and climatic paramaters;
  • Be able to demonstrate understanding of causes and effects of atmospheric and ocean circulations;
  • Be able to discuss the interactions among ocean/atmospheric circulation and hydrological processes like precipitation, evaporation, interception, soil moisture, snow, stream flow, etc;
  • Be able to explain climate change and climate variability;
  • Be able to demonstrate understanding of climate indicators, hydroclimatic models and sources of global climate data;
  • Be able to discuss the 'contemporary' challenges in hydroclimatology resulting from increasing human impact upon processes within the hydrological cycle.

Syllabus

This subject will cover the following topics:

Introduction to hydroclimatology and scope of the subject; Advanced aspects of global and Australian climate; Global heat balance and water balance; Stefan-Boltzmann law of radiation; Significance of radiation and atmospheric moisture in formation of weather systems and climate; Ralationships among temperature, humidity, vapour pressure and elevations; Advanced techniques for measurement of spatial and temporal variability of rainfall patterns; Atmospheric and ocean circulations, trade-winds and their implications; Implications of climate change and climate variability; Instrumentation for measurement (both online and offline) of meteorological and climatic parameters; Sources of climate data collation and retrieval; Climate variability indices and their significance and application; Global circulation models and climate prediction; Weather forecast and synoptic charts; Global warming and sea level rise; Hydroclimatic aspects of water virtual trading; Energy balance at farm level; Case studies and field examples related to the climate and water resources.

Residential School

This subject contains a 3 day Compulsory Residential School.Laboratory and fieldwork.

Contact

Current Students

For any enquiries about subject selection or course structure please contact Student Central or ask@csu.edu.au or phone on 1800 275 278.

Prospective Students

For further information about Charles Sturt University, or this course offering, please contact info.csu on 1800 275 278 (free call within Australia) or enquire online.

The information contained in the 2018 CSU Handbook was accurate at the date of publication: August 2018. The University reserves the right to vary the information at any time without notice.

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