*This module is offered in alternate years (e.g. 19/20, 21/22 etc)*

Bringing together the latest methods and applied techniques in catchment hydrology and modelling, students will gain a solid foundation in the key concepts of hydrology, hydrometrics and basic hydrological processes operating at a catchment scale.

Teaching will focus on the practical application of skills and industry standard techniques in the context of the latest legislation, guidance and policy. The module will introduce commercially available models and allow students to critically apply these models in a range of worked case studies and examples.

Students will learn to critically assess the main hydrological assessment and modelling techniques in order to effectively use hydrological data. However, they will also be expected to deal with instances where there is an absence of local data, to the extent that they will know which estimation or modelling technique to choose when faced with uncertainty in a real world situation.

*This module is offered in alternate years (e.g. 18/19, 20/21 etc)*

Students will learn about the processes that lead to coastal erosion and flood risk, including tides, storm surges and waves. They will be introduced to estimation and computational techniques used to calculate extreme sea level and wave heights and for the production of tidal graphs for flood inundation modelling.

It will be delivered in the context of applying these technical approaches and concepts to decision making faced by coastal asset owners, planners, developers, etc. and will also introduce the concepts of predicting climate change impacts, the principles of adaptation, resilience and uncertainty, and how to incorporate these into flood risk management.

Students will gain an understanding of different types of numerical and physical models available for coastal flood modelling (e.g. empirical, 2D or 3D grid-based, offshore circulation, wave transformation), their strengths and weaknesses and how to deal with uncertainty.

Students will also gain skills in how to assess, quantify and mitigate the risks to coastal assets, people and the environment. In addition, this module encourages comprehension and assessment of coastal processes reports, wave overtopping studies and coastal flooding studies.

This module is taken by all master's students. This is a piece of research carried out with one-to-one supervision from either a member of LEC staff or one of our research partner organisations or sometimes both. Students can choose their own project (subject to agreement), choose a project from a list published by the department, or can apply for a project in conjunction with an external company.

*This module is offered in alternate years (e.g. 19/20, 21/22 etc)*

Forecasting and Extreme Event Response will provide students with an introduction to the latest hydrological and meteorological forecasting methods and a solid foundation in the concepts and processes involved in flow forecasting. It will introduce commercially available models for real time flood forecasting and warning systems and the concepts of variability, uncertainty and accuracy in short term forecasting. It will also introduce longer term climate prediction and the concepts and principals of uncertainty.

The course will include a simulated flood response exercise to enable students to understand how forecasting is applied and how uncertainty and variability in forecasting is dealt with in a real world context. This will utilise JBA’s Exercise Management System software which simulates hydrometric data, displaying rainfall and river level information, automatic alarms, radar imagery and exercise injects to test response to realistic flooding scenarios.

*This module is offered in alternate years (e.g. 19/20, 21/22 etc)*

This module will deliver an introduction to flood risk management in the context of UK policies, legislation and spatial planning. It will provide a grounding in flood risk related responsibilities and will teach students the key concepts in urban hydrology and sustainable drainage systems (SuDS). To this end, the module will cover the design of SuDS systems, from outline design concepts to assessment of performance, estimation of flow and water quality loading.

Students will come to understand the capabilities and applications of the commercially available hydraulic models (e.g. Microdrainage, MUSIC) and the relative advantages/disadvantages of each, plus the data requirements. They will also learn how to plan, design, construct and manage a SuDS scheme in accordance with the relevant legal and regulatory framework.

By the end of this module, students will demonstrate the skills required to undertake a Flood Risk Assessment and will be able to select and apply the best techniques and models for estimating design flows in urban drainage systems.

*This module is offered in alternate years (e.g. 18/19, 20/21 etc)*

Students will be provided with a solid foundation in key hydraulic processes, the impact of structures and an overview of the generic types of river model during this module. This includes how to select the most appropriate model for a particular application for flood risk management e.g. flood warning, flood risk mapping for spatial and emergency planning, broad scale screening studies, detailed feasibility and design of flood mitigation measures.

In addition to this, commercially available 1D, 2D and integrated models will be available to use during the module. Students will critically evaluate these commercially available models and select the best model for a specific application. This involves learning to identify and quantify where uncertainty exists in data and modelling, and how it should be dealt with.

Students will benefit from the availability of a mobile hydraulic flume. It is owned by the JBA Trust for educational purposes and will be used to demonstrate hydraulic principles relating to good river weir and culvert design.

With this knowledge gained from these tools, students will be able to apply industry standard flood estimation and modelling techniques to solve real problems in the context of flood risk management and the latest legislation and policy.

*This module is offered in alternate years (e.g. 18/19, 20/21 etc)*

The module will cover the concepts and theory involved in river restoration techniques and introduce a geomorphological approach to sustainable river management. It will be based on case studies and examples of river restoration projects, delivered in the context of the developing legislative and policy drivers, such as the Water Framework Directive (WFD). It will also include a field trip to visit a local river (the River Lune) to demonstrate assessment techniques, identify sustainable solutions and provide case study material.

Students will learn how the Water Framework Directive (WFD), the ‘Catchment Based Approach’ (CaBA) and the principles of Integrated Catchment Management (ICM) influence and drive river and catchment management. They will also consider the main hydro-ecology and hydromorphology assessment techniques. This will enable students to understand the process, techniques and key steps involved in designing a sustainable river restoration scheme.

*Please note this module will not run in 2022/23*

Catchments are increasingly perceived as complex and highly interconnected systems. This presents significant difficulties for those who manage catchments, but also a range of novel and timely research opportunities. In this context, the module aims to provide you with understanding and practical experience of key research and management challenges facing the future management of catchments. The module will take the Eden catchment as a case study, and draw on the latest land and water management framework, derived from the Water Framework Directive, as a basis for discussion. After analysing this framework and identifying significant challenges, you will use a combination of field, laboratory and data analysis techniques to investigate research questions related to biophysical processes within catchments. These investigations will lead to an appreciation of the limits to current knowledge and the opportunities for future research.

Students will cultivate an appreciation of the scale and variety of groundwater resources within the UK and overseas. The vulnerability of these resources and the various procedures and challenges for the implementation of policies for their protection will also be a major focus during this module.

The module will introduce the principles of groundwater flow and transport for which both physical and mathematical aspects of groundwater systems need to be discussed. Use will be made of computer models to solve practical problems relevant to the water industry. The students will also gain hands-on experience of groundwater investigation methods in the field.

Those who take this module will learn to apply a specific groundwater model (MODFLOW) to a number of problems, after considering the different methods that are widely used for investigating groundwater systems. Students will then learn to state the limitations of such models for practical use and will numerically evaluate the model results that they gather.

This module will ultimately impart the skills needed to prepare reports for a Head of Section as if working for an organisation such as the Environment Agency.