CE 2500

Assignment 1 Instructor: Riddhi Singh

Aim of this assignment:

The aim of this assignment is to test your understanding of concepts introduced in Lectures
1-3.

What you need to do:

1. All assignments, quizzes and any class related submissions must be made in the
same notebook. Please make a fresh notebook which should be submitted with
assignments. Make sure your name and roll number is present on the notebook.
2. Provide neatly written/drawn solutions with proper units (wherever applicable).
3. You may use MS excel/ Matlab/ R to draw the plots, all plots must be labeled with a
minimum font size on labels of 16 and font style of Arial or Helvetica.

Deadline:
The assignment is due on 2nd February 2017 (end of class at 12.55 pm). Late assignments
or assignments submitted on loose paper will not be accepted.

1. Draw the watershed boundary for the outflow point marked by the red marker in the map
provided in Figure 1. The contour maps for the area is attached on Page 3 of this
document.
(10 marks)

Figure 1. Location of watershed outlet for Problem 1.

2. (a) Calculate the average residence time of ocean water, groundwater, and surface
water (in rivers) using the information in Table 1 and Table 2. Note that the total runoff to
ocean from rivers and ground water is 47,000 km3/year. List the assumptions made while
making these calculations.
(2 + 3 + 3 + 2 marks)
Over Ocean (km3/year) Over Land
(km3/year)
Precipitation 458,000 119,000
Evaporation 505,000 72,000
Table 1. Fluxes of precipitation and evaporation over ocean and land.

Volume (km3)
Oceans 458,000
Groundwater 505,000
Rivers 2,120

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CE 2500
Assignment 1 Instructor: Riddhi Singh

Table 2. Volume of water stored in various sources globally.

Hint: Assume that all reservoirs are in equilibrium w.r.t to mass of water. So, total incoming
and outgoing fluxes are equal. You can make other appropriate assumptions.
(b) It is well established now that anthropogenic increases in greenhouse gas emissions
leads to an increase in global mean temperature (read more about this phenomenon at
the link below1). Discuss in brief in this context:
How would the global hydrological cycle respond to such an increase in
global mean temperatures?
How would the residence time of water in atmosphere change under this
new condition?
Marks for part (b) will be allotted based on rationale used to support the answers.
(2 + 3 marks)

3. (Problem 3.4.4 from Ven Te Chow) The following incremental rainfall data were
recorded at gage 1-WLN in Austin, Texas, on May 24, 1981. Plot the rainfall hyetograph.
Compute and plot the cumulative rainfall hyetograph. Calculate the maximum depth and
intensity of rainfall for 5, 30, and 120 minutes for this storm.
(1 + 1 + 3 marks)

Time (min) 0 5 10 16 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
Rainfall (in) - 0.09 0.00 0.03 0.13 0.10 0.13 0.21 0.37 0.22 0.30
Time (min) 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100 105
Rainfall (in) 0.20 0.10 0.13 0.14 0.12 0.16 0.14 0.18 0.25 0.48 0.40
Time (min) 110 115 120 125 130 135 140 145 150
Rainfall (in) 0.39 0.24 0.41 0.44 0.27 0.17 0.17 0.14 0.10
Table 3. Rainfall records for gage 1-WLN in Austin, Texas for May 24, 1981.

1 https://www.epa.gov/climatechange/climate-change-basic-information

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