Mediaspace scheduled maintenance: Aug 25, 2026 07:00 - 12:00 AM. During this time, videos will be temporarily unavailable. Check status updates.

Lecture

Droughts: Macroscopic Indicators and Climate Analysis

In course

ENV-221: Hydrology for engineers

This is an introductory course to key concepts and methods in physical and engineering hydrology. ...

Description

This lecture by the instructor covers the macroscopic indicators of drought, such as base flow and drought flow, and the practical importance of predicting base flow in the absence of precipitation. It delves into the Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI) and its use in evaluating meteorological anomalies. The lecture also discusses the impact of droughts on advanced agricultural societies, the role of tropical Pacific Ocean sea surface temperatures in drought formation over North America, and the reconstruction of past droughts using tree-ring chronologies. Additionally, it explores the dynamics of soil moisture, evapotranspiration, and soil salinization in the context of irrigation practices.

This video is available exclusively on Mediaspace for a restricted audience. Please log in to MediaSpace to access it if you have the necessary permissions.

Watch on Mediaspace

Instructors (3)

Andrea Rinaldo

Paolo Benettin

I was born in Padova, Italy, in 1986. After high school, I started the Environmental Engineering program at the University of Padova (Bachelor and Master), where I followed the 'soil protection' curriculum. During my Master studies I spent a semester as Erasmus student at Wageningen University (Wageningen, the Netherlands) to follow courses in Hydrology. After graduation, I decided to bring my education further and I started a Ph.D. at the civil and environmental engineering department at the University of Padova. My Ph.D. thesis focused on hydrologic transport and travel time distributions at the catchment scale. My contribution to the subject included both new theoretical formulations and extensive numerical applications to real catchments. During my Ph.D., I also spent 7 months as visiting research fellow at Virginia Tech University (Blacksburg, USA). Since I arrived at EPFL as post-doc in 2015, I started being involved in field and experimental activities, which allowed me to learn about practical experimental problems. In 2017 I had the opportunity to by hired by the ECHO laboratory as a permanent scientist, conducting research in the field of catchment hydrology.

Sara Bonetti

Official source

Ontological neighbourhood

Agricultural and food sciences

Agriculture: Topics in agriculture

Related concepts (32)

Irrigation

Irrigation (also referred to as watering) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow crops, landscape plants, and lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,000 years and has been developed by many cultures around the world. Irrigation helps to grow crops, maintain landscapes, and revegetate disturbed soils in dry areas and during times of below-average rainfall. In addition to these uses, irrigation is also employed to protect crops from frost, suppress weed growth in grain fields, and prevent soil consolidation.

Irrigation in viticulture

Irrigation in viticulture is the process of applying extra water in the cultivation of grapevines. It is considered both controversial and essential to wine production. In the physiology of the grapevine, the amount of available water affects photosynthesis and hence growth, as well as the development of grape berries. While climate and humidity play important roles, a typical grape vine needs 25-35 inches (635-890 millimeters) of water a year, occurring during the spring and summer months of the growing season, to avoid stress.

Evapotranspiration

Evapotranspiration (ET) is the combined processes by which water moves from the earth's surface into the atmosphere. It covers both water evaporation (movement of water to the air directly from soil, canopies, and water bodies) and transpiration (evaporation that occurs through the stomata, or openings, in plant leaves). Evapotranspiration is an important part of the local water cycle and climate, and measurement of it plays a key role in agricultural irrigation and water resource management.

Soil salinity

Soil salinity is the salt content in the soil; the process of increasing the salt content is known as salinization. Salts occur naturally within soils and water. Salination can be caused by natural processes such as mineral weathering or by the gradual withdrawal of an ocean. It can also come about through artificial processes such as irrigation and road salt. Salts are a natural component in soils and water. The ions responsible for salination are: Na+, K+, Ca2+, Mg2+ and Cl−.

Soil salinity control

Soil salinity control refers to controlling the process and progress of soil salinity to prevent soil degradation by salination and reclamation of already salty (saline) soils. Soil reclamation is also called soil improvement, rehabilitation, remediation, recuperation, or amelioration. The primary man-made cause of salinization is irrigation. River water or groundwater used in irrigation contains salts, which remain in the soil after the water has evaporated.

Related lectures (32)

Water Needs and Consequences

Explores water needs, consumption consequences, hydraulic economy, and soil salinization, emphasizing the impact of water withdrawals and the quality of drinking water.

Geomechanics: Suction and Shear Strength

Covers suction, shear strength, desiccation consequences, and retaining structures in unsaturated soils.

Environmental Legislation and Soil Protection

Explores environmental legislation, soil contamination, and remediation strategies, emphasizing the importance of protecting soil fertility and public health.

Organic matter degradation

Explores the composition and decomposition of organic matter in soils, highlighting the crucial role of microorganisms and the formation of humus.

Environmental Legislation: Soil Protection and Regulations