2026

Hydrogeography

Name: Hydrogeography
Code: GEO15309L
6 ECTS
Duration: 15 weeks/156 hours
Scientific Area: Geography

Teaching languages: Portuguese
Languages of tutoring support: Portuguese

Sustainable Development Goals

Learning Goals

To provide students with an understanding of hydrological phenomena and methodologies for monitoring and quantifying them, with a view to analysing available water resources, inventorying water needs and defining emerging water needs. By the end of the course, students should be able to (a) describe the water cycle and its processes, (b) develop water balances for various hydrological problems in time and space, (c) measure important components of the water cycle, especially flow measurements in watercourses, (d) describe how the components of the water cycle are influenced by human activity, (e) analyse hydrological data, and (f) evaluate the management of water resources in practical cases, (g) write a report on the results obtained in an individual project.

Contents

1. Water in Portugal, Europe and the World: basic issues, demand/supply, trends
2. The global hydrological cycle
3. Catchment hydrology: Land-atmosphere interactions
4. Structure and properties of water and principles of fluid dynamics
5. Open channel hydraulics
6. Catchment hydrology: Streams, floods and droughts
7. Groundwater flow
8. Groundwater transport
9. Water in the unsaturated zone
10. Monitoring and assessing processes
11. Modelling hydrologic processes
12. Water quantity and affecting factors
13. Water quality
14. Managing water resources: Towards a sustainable future?

Teaching Methods

The theory will be taught using presentations incorporating text, images, videos, and other supporting materials. The practical classes will be based on quantitative exercises involving calculating and interpreting hydrological variables (e.g., streamflow, evapotranspiration, interception). In addition, a field trip will be organised where students will apply hydrometric methods to measure streamflow. A group project will include a report on the field trip as well as practical exercises on the various subjects covered in class.

Assessment

Continuous assessment
1) Two individual theory tests (25% + 25%)
2) Group project + presentation (35% + 10%)
3) Participation and attendance (5%)

Passing requires compulsory attendance at 75% of the classes, including 100% of the project classes, except for admissible justification.

Assessment by exam:
- Regular Exam (Practical (50%) + Theory (50%))
- Alternative 1 - (Practical (50%) + Theory (50%))
- Special Season Exam (Practical (50%) + Theory (50%)
- Extraordinary Exam (Practical (50%) + Theory (50%)

Any plagiarism detected in the work handed in, from work by other authors or from CHATGTP or other artificial intelligence text production support, will result in a mark of zero for the work in question and the impossibility of presenting further assessment elements in the Course Unit (Academic Regulations in force at the institution in question; Art. 119, in the case of the University of Évora).