Hydrological cycle

"The water cycle — technically known as the hydrological cycle — is the continuous circulation of water within the Earth's hydrosphere, and is driven by solar radiation. This includes the atmosphere, land, surface water and groundwater. As water moves through the cycle, it changes state between liquid, solid, and gas phases. Water moves from compartment to compartment, such as from river to ocean, by the physical processes of evaporation, precipitation, infiltration, runoff, and subsurface flow." (European Environmental Agency, 2019). "Water moves at very small scales too. It is in us, plants, and other organisms. Human activities impact the water cycle, affecting where water is stored, how it moves, and how clean it is." (USGS, 2022).

By clicking any of the pools and fluxes below, you will get redirected to the Space4Water glossary term, learn about terminology and see what Space4Water actors including stakeholders, professionals and young professionals have on the Portal and what content is available.

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Sources

European Environmental Agency. "Water glossary". Accessed March 2, 2019. Available at: https://www.eea.europa.eu/themes/water/glossary

United States Geological Survey. "Water Cycle". Accessed November 7, 2022. https://www.usgs.gov/special-topics/water-science-school/science/water-…

Related Content

Article

Interview with Ioana Popescu, Associate Professor of Hydroinformatics at IHE Delft Institute for Water Education

Please describe how your professional (and/or personal) experience relates to space technologies and their applications to water resources management.

I am an expert in hydroinformatics, mainly involved in research projects and research supervision of MSc and PhD students. My research focusses on physically based models for inland waters (rivers and lakes). One of the major fields where modelling is used in water resources is flooding. In order to have adequate representation of floods, most models require large amounts of data, both for model building and model usage.

Interview with Ioana Popescu, Associate Professor of Hydroinformatics at IHE Delft Institute for Water Education

Please describe how your professional (and/or personal) experience relates to space technologies and their applications to water resources management.

I am an expert in hydroinformatics, mainly involved in research projects and research supervision of MSc and PhD students. My research focusses on physically based models for inland waters (rivers and lakes). One of the major fields where modelling is used in water resources is flooding. In order to have adequate representation of floods, most models require large amounts of data, both for model building and model usage.

Event

Stakeholder

IHE Delft Institute for Water Education

IHE Delft Institute for Water Education is the largest international graduate water education facility in the world and is based in Delft, the Netherlands. Since 1957 the Institute has provided water education and training to 23.000 professionals from over 190 countries, the vast majority from Africa, Asia and Latin America. Also, numerous research and institutional strengthening projects are carried out in partnership to strengthen capacity in the water sector worldwide.

Mozaika

Mozaika, The Humanizing Technologies Lab, provides research and development in the field of data science, natural interfaces (human-computer interaction), knowledge management and human insight. At Mozaika we are trying to leverage data science with natural interfaces to provide solutions tailored to human behavior, attitudes and comprehension. The company specializes in building information infrastructures that serve a variety of applications in data as a service or intelligence as a service modes. Our solutions are either human user facing or modules of larger systems.

b.geos GmbH

b.geos offers Earth Observation services using state-of-the-art remote sensing technologies. We develop value-added products, conduct basic research, provide consultancy in remote sensing technologies and applications, as well as training.

Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture and Technology Pantnagar

G. B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, also known as Pantnagar University, is the first agricultural university in India. The University lies in the campus town of Pantnagar in Kichha Tehseel and in the district of Udham Singh Nagar, Uttarakhand. The university is regarded as the harbinger of the Green Revolution in India. Pantnagar University is regarded as a significant force in the development and transfer of High Yielding Variety of seeds and related technology.

Person

Space-based Solution

Addressed challenge(s)

Potential consequences due to the melting Athabasca glacier, Canada

Collaborating actors (stakeholders, professionals, young professionals or Indigenous voices)
Suggested solution

Assessment of the challenge

  • Need more data about the location of the community and their usage of water
  • Split the challenge into a “glacier” and a down-stream challenge
  • No up-to-date weather data available since 2011
  • Discharge and temperature, rainfall and snow data available
  • Digital elevation surface and terrain model available

Outline steps to a solution & status

  1. Inventory of the snow cover and watershed area (completed)
  2. Build a regression model using historical data to assess the relationship between snow melt, temperature and discharge (to do)
  3. HEC-RAS for flood modelling (to do)
  4. Use climate change projections to predict future discharge and flood extents (to do)
  5. Impact assessment: downstream impact analysis of hydro-power and agriculture in case needed (to do)

Requirements

Software

Data

Physical

  • Weather station - if more detailed data are needed by the community
  • Snow monitoring (snow depth sensor)
Relevant publications
Related space-based solutions
Keywords (for the solution)
Climate Zone (addressed by the solution)
Habitat (addressed by the solution)
Region/Country (the solution was designed for, if any)
Relevant SDGs