LAWI301236 Seminar in surface hydrology (in English)

Type
Seminar
Semester hours
2
Lecturer (assistant)
Herrnegger, Mathew
Organisation
Hydrology and Water Management
Offered in
Sommersemester 2026
Languages of instruction
Englisch
Content

This advanced course provides hands-on experience with distributed hydrological modeling using COSERO, a flexible rainfall-runoff model that can be applied in both fully distributed (grid-based) and semi-distributed modes. Working in small groups, you will set up, parameterize, and run COSERO for Austrian catchments, applying the full workflow from spatial data processing to model evaluation.

Building on your prior experience with lumped hydrological models and R programming, this course advances to spatially distributed modeling where processes vary across the landscape. You'll process gridded meteorological data from SPARTACUS (GeoSphere Austria), configure catchment structures using the Hydrological Atlas of Austria, estimate parameters from catchment characteristics and literature values, conduct sensitivity analyses, and evaluate model performance.

The course emphasizes practical skills in operational hydrological modeling, bridging theory with real-world applications relevant to water resources management.
Previous knowledge expected

Fundamentals of Hydrology and Water Resources Management

LAWI301241 Exercises in hydrological processes and water resources management (or equivalent): Solid knowledge in hydrological modeling (GR4J model), R programming, calibration and validation of rainfall-runoff models, calculation of water balance components, and interpretation of hydrological processes

R Programming: Proficient use of R/RStudio/Positron, data processing and visualization, function development, use of external packages, time series processing

Basic GIS Skills: Fundamental knowledge in QGIS for spatial data processing, including working with vector data (polygons), raster data, and basic GIS operations
Objective (expected results of study and acquired competences)

Upon successful completion of this course, you will be able to:

* Configure distributed and semi-distributed hydrological models: Set up COSERO model structures, aggregate catchment polygons to appropriate scales, and prepare spatially distributed input data

* Process gridded meteorological data: Extract and process precipitation and temperature data from SPARTACUS NetCDF files using R

* Derive model parameters: Estimate spatially distributed parameters from catchment characteristics and literature and evaluate parameter sensitivity

* Conduct hydrological simulations: Run daily rainfall-runoff simulations including snow, evapotranspiration, soil moisture, and runoff generation processes

* Analyze model outputs: Evaluate model performance using multiple metrics, analyze spatial and temporal patterns of hydrological fluxes, and interpret water balance components

* Apply advanced R and GIS skills: Implement complex modeling workflows combining R programming with spatial data processing in QGIS
You can find more details like the schedule or information about exams on the course-page in BOKUonline.