Geographical Information Systems in Hydrology

The last few years have witnessed an enormous interest in application of GIS in hydrology and water resources. This is partly evidenced by organization of sev eral national and international symposia or conferences under the sponsorship of various professional organizations. This increased interest is, in a large measure, in response to growing public sensitivity to environmental quality and management. The GIS technology has the ability to capture, store, manipulate, analyze, and visualize the diverse sets of geo-referenced data. On the other hand, hydrology is inherently spatial and distributed hydrologic models have large data requirements. The integration of hydrology and GIS is therefore quite natural. The integration involves three major components: (1) spatial data construction, (2) integration of spatial model layers, and (3) GIS and model interface. GIS can assist in design, calibration, modification and comparison of models. This integration is spreading worldwide and is expected to accelerate in the foreseeable future. Substantial op portunities exist in integration of GIS and hydrology. We believe there are enough challenges in use of GIS for conceptualizing and modeling complex hydrologic processes and for globalization of hydrology. The motivation for this book grew out of the desire to provide under one cover a range of applications of GIS tech nology in hydrology. It is hoped that the book will stimulate others to write more comprehensive texts on this subject of growing importance.

Klappentext

This book provides a comprehensive treatment of GIS technology and its application to a range of hydrologic problems. It contains 16 chapters, written by leading scientists from around the globe, that provide an in-depth discussion of GIS applications. Hydrologic modeling is becoming increasingly global, in terms of both spatial scale and depth of treatment. This globalization of hydrology is placing new and greater demands for data, and more sophisticated techniques for managing and processing them. It is now possible to meet those demands through application of remote sensing and GIS technology. br/ emAudience:/em The book will be useful to faculty members; graduate students; civil, agricultural, environmental, and water engineers; geographers; environmental planners and managers; as well as those engaged in the private and government sectors in the area of environmental and water management.

Inhalt
1 Hydrologic modeling with GIS.- 2 Integration of Remote Sensing and GIS for Hydrologic Studies.- 3 Hydrologic Data Development.- 4 Spatial Data Characteristics.- 5 Methods For Spatial Analysis.- 6 GIS Needs and GIS Software.- 7 Digital Terrain Modelling.- 8 GIS for Distributed Rainfall Runoff Modeling.- 9 GIS for Large-Scale Watershed Modelling.- 10 Lumped Modeling and GIS in Flood Prediction.- 11 GIS in Groundwater Hydrology.- 12 Nonpoint Source Pollution Modeling (with GIS).- 13 Soil Erosion Assessment Using G.I.S..- 14 A Study of Landslides Based on GIS Technology.- 15 Land-Use Hydrology.- 16 Design of GIS for Hydrological Applications.- List of Contributors.