Worksheet 3: Watersheds Concept and Workflows

A watershed, also known as a catchment area or river basin, is the area from which precipitation flows into a particular river or watercourse and into which the river or watercourse drains. It is a natural hydrological unit defined by topographical features. Catchment modelling is an important aspect of water resources and environmental science for understanding the behaviour of the hydrological cycle and developing sustainable water management strategies.

Catchment modelling allows the simulation of water flow, precipitation, runoff patterns and the transport of sediment and pollutants within the catchment. This is often done using hydrological models based on computer simulations. These models help to analyse different scenarios and environmental impacts, such as those associated with land use change, climate change or human activities.

The benefits of catchment modelling are many. They include predicting floods, assessing water quality, planning water management measures, identifying potential environmental impacts and developing strategies for sustainable water use. Understanding the dynamics of catchments is crucial to preventing water scarcity, protecting ecosystems and reconciling human activities with the environment.

What we will do in this unit

We will investigate to what extent the terrain model and the chosen algorithm influence the accuracy and relevance of hydrological forecasts when modelling the Lahn catchment area.

Learning Objectives

After this tutorial you will be able to

  • Identify and evaluate appropriate tools and workflows
  • Identify basic technical concepts
  • Evaluate different technical workflows in relation to a problem
  • critically reflect on and document which decisions led to which process

Materials Required

Data

## Tasks 3 Please choose one or more approaches to model the catchment of the river Lahn with the outflow point Lahnstein. Compare with the linked online version of mghydro.com