Friday, February 6, 2026

The 2026 Hydrology Class

 Work in progress

Hydrology is a fascinating field because water is essential for life and human activities. It is fundamentally the Physics of the Hydrological Cycle, yet it is deeply interconnected with biochemical processes and geology due to water's crucial role in ecosystems. Here a brief introduction from a National Geographics post. A companion page is available for the laboratory exercises, where you can find all the necessary materials for hands-on practice.

The lab material is here. 

Classes and Related Materials

Available Resources

  • Storyboards – A summary of the lecture, usually in Italian.
  • Whiteboard – A detailed explanation of a specific topic, presented using Notability on an iPad.
  • Slides – Commented in English.
  • Videos – Commentary on the slides, typically recorded during lectures with no editing (as post-production would be too time-consuming). The 2026 showcase is available at this link.
    • 2025 Videos are available on a Vimeo Showcase [link here].
  • Additional Information & References – For those eager to explore more, supplementary details and references are provided in italics.

Class Schedule & Materials

📅 24 February 2026 – Introduction to the Course and Hydrology

  • 🔎 Complementary Reference:

📅 03 March 2026 - Statistics of extreme precipitations

📌 Topic: Understanding precipitation distribution, intensity, and extreme events—essential for engineering applications.

Statistics of extreme precipitations

📌 Topic: Understanding the extreme precipitation concept and distributions,

 Some reviews on statistics - Return Period

📅 05 March 2026 - Extreme distributions

A summary about the extreme precipitation estimations (Whiteboard)

📅 19 March 2026 - Water in soils and aquifer 
 (Storyboard2020)
Once precipitations arrive to the ground surface they either infiltrate or generate runoff. We first state how they infiltrate and, actually how water behave in the soil and in the ground. We talk about the complexity of the Earth surface that contains life and call it, the Critical Zone. To study infiltration we introduce the Darcy and Richards equations of which we explain the characteristics.

1 - What is soil  (and aquifers)

📅 24 March 2026 - Water in soils and aquifer 

2 - The Energy of water in soil

    📅 26 March 2026 - Water in soils and aquifer 

    3 - Darcy and Buckingham laws (of flux)

    4 - Soil Water budget

    5 - Solving Richards equations (and its limits)

    6 - Aquifers

    Musical Coda



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