regime

From Middle English regime, regyme, from Middle French regime, from Latin regimen (“direction, government”). Doublet of regimen.

A typical annual water level regime would include a gradual summer drawdown beginning in early May.


bank

From Middle English bank, from Old English hōbanca (“couch”) and Old English banc (“bank, hillock, embankment”), from Proto-Germanic *bankô. Akin to Old Norse bakki (“elevation, hill”), Norwegian bakke (“slope, hill”).

der

Tiber trembled underneath her banks.

1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:

On the opposite bank of the river other Chinese units attacked Taoshih and Yunmeng north-west of Hankow.

1943 June 8, “Jap Remnants Suffer Heavy Casualties: Alerts In Chungking”, in The Bombay Chronicle, volume XXXI, number 134, page 1:

Just upstream of Dryburgh Abbey, a reproduction of a classical Greek temple stands at the top of a wooded hillock on the river’s north bank.

2014 September 16, Ian Jack, “Is this the end of Britishness”, in The Guardian:

(hydrology) An edge of river, lake, or other watercourse.

the banks of Newfoundland

(nautical, hydrology) An elevation under the sea; a shallow area of shifting sand, gravel, mud, and so forth

плитчина

an underwater area of higher elevation, a sandbank


polynya

en-noun

polynya (plural polynyas or (rare) polynyi)

Borrowed from Russian полынья́ (polynʹjá, “polynya”) in the 1850s, from Middle Russian полыньѧ (polynʹja) (att. in 1639), from полыи (polyi, “open from above, uncovered; hollow”), whence also Russian полый (polyj, “hollow”), from Old East Slavic полъ (polŭ, “uncovered”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pleh₂- (“flat”). The rare plural form polynyi is borrowed from Russian полыньи́ (polynʹí).

der

We immediately ascended a hill, and saw that the supposed land was nothing but hummocks of ice, piled up beyond a large Polynia, or space of open water, which extended from east to west, as far as the eye could reach.

1844, Ferdinand von Wrangell, chapter V, in Edward Sabine, editor, Narrative of an Expedition to the Polar Sea […], 2nd edition, London: James Madden and Co., […], →OCLC, pages 102–103:

Hoping to reach the starting-place in the early season of navigation, he intends to follow his course of travel nearly upon a meridional line, which would, it is believed, lead him to the Polynya—a mare liberum, or such, comparatively speaking—within its formidable borderings of the thick-ribbed ice.

1853 June, “The Polar Seas and Sir John Franklin”, in Putnam's Magazine, volume I, number VI, New York, N.Y.: GP Putnam & Co. […]; London: Sampson Low, Son & Co., →OCLC, page 635, column 2:

Dr. [Ian] Stirling pointed out that colonies of nesting sea-birds were an indicator of permanent polynias and that the productivity studies in such polynias might prove interesting.

1980, “Summary of the Meeting”, in Polar Bears […], Gland, Switzerland: International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, →ISBN, paragraph 9, page 23:

Polynas play an important role in heat transfer from the oceans to the atmosphere, ice production, the formation of dense shelf water, spring disintegration of sea ice, phytoplankton and zooplankton production, and the distribution of higher trophic animals such as cephalopods, fish, birds, seals, and cetaceans.

2006, George A. Knox, “The Southern Ocean”, in Biology of the Southern Ocean (Marine Biology Series), 2nd edition, Boca Raton, Fla.: CRC Press, →ISBN, section 1.6, page 11, column 1:

Researchers now plan to compare their routes with satellite images and see whether the owls stayed around the polynas, where snowy owls have been seen, picking off eiders swimming in the open water.

2008 June 20, Jane George, “‘We’ve had the biggest surprises and more questions are coming out.’: The secret life of snowy owls”, in Nunatsiaq News, archived from the original on 2018-12-29:

Below the glacier, within the polynya, two rivers flow, a river of salt and a river of earth.

2022, Thomas Halliday, Otherlands, Penguin, published 2023, page 237:

(hydrology, oceanography) A naturally formed transient area of open water surrounded by sea ice, especially in polar or subpolar seas.

Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer

National Aeronautics and Space Administration


armor

en-noun

armor (countable and uncountable, plural armors)

From Middle English armure, armour, armor, armeure, borrowed from Anglo-Norman armure and Old French armeüre, from Latin armātūra. Doublet of armature and armure.

(hydrology, uncountable) The naturally occurring surface of pebbles, rocks or boulders that line the bed of a waterway or beach and provide protection against erosion.


discharge

discharge (countable and uncountable, plural discharges)

/dɪsˈtʃɑːdʒ/

/ˈdɪstʃɑːdʒ/

/dɪsˈtʃɑɹdʒ/

/ˈdɪstʃɑɹdʒ/

-ɪstʃɑː(ɹ)dʒ

From Middle English dischargen, from Old French deschargier (“to unload”), from Late Latin discarricāre (“unload”). By surface analysis, dis- + charge.

(hydrology) The volume of water transported by a river in a certain amount of time, usually in units of m³/s (cubic meters per second).


submarine river

submarine river (plural submarine rivers)

(hydrology, oceanology) A river-like current on the seabed.


bar

bar (countable and uncountable, plural bars)

→ Albanian: bar m

→ Arabic: بَار m (bār)

→ Armenian: բար (bar)

→ Bulgarian: бар (bar)

→ Burmese: ဘား (bha:)

→ Chichewa: bála

→ Cantonese: 吧 (baa¹)

→ Czech: bar m

→ Danish: bar c

→ Dutch: bar m

→ Esperanto: baro

→ Estonian: baar

→ French: bar m
→ Romanian: bar

→ Galician: bar m

→ Georgian: ბარი (bari)

→ German: Bar f

→ Greek: μπαρ n (bar)

→ Gulf Arabic: بار (bār)

→ Hebrew: בָּר (bar), בָּאר (bár)

→ Hungarian: bár (also via German)

→ Icelandic: bar m

→ Irish: beár m

→ Italian: bar m

→ Japanese: バー (bā)

→ Khmer: បារ (baa)

→ Korean: 바 (ba)

→ Lithuanian: bãras m

→ Macedonian: бар m (bar)

→ Malagasy: ba

→ Mandarin: 吧 (bā)

→ Norwegian:

Bokmål: bar m

Nynorsk: bar m

→ Persian: بار (bâr)

→ Polish: bar m

→ Portuguese: bar m

→ Russian: бар m (bar)

→ Serbo-Croatian: ба̑р m, bȃr m

→ Slovene: bȃr m

→ Spanish: bar m

→ Swahili: baa

→ Swedish: bar c (see there for further descendants)

→ Thai: บาร์ (baa)

→ Turkish: bar

→ Xhosa: íbhári

→ Zulu: ibha

From Middle English barre, from Old French barre (“beam, bar, gate, barrier”), from Vulgar Latin *barra, of uncertain origin. Doublet of barre.

der

(geography, nautical, hydrology) A ridge or succession of ridges of sand or other substance; especially:

Travellers change at Batoum into a steamer which performs the service between that port and Poti, and which has a less draught of water to enable it to cross the bar of the river Rion.

1868, “Route 20: London to Tiflis […] ”, in Handbook for Travellers in Russia, Poland, and Finland, 2nd edition, London: John Murray, page 320:

en:geographic or hydrologic ridge
en:shoal such as sandbank

A linear shoaling landform feature within a body of water; a formation extending across the mouth of a river or harbor or off a beach, and which may obstruct navigation. (FM 55-501).


agger

From Middle English agger (“heap, pile”), from Latin agger (“earthwork, rubble, rampart”), from ad- (“toward, towards”) + gerere (“to carry”).

The phænomenon of long continued high water or double high water in estuaries is, we believe, not uncommon. [...] The first high water appears to be considered by the Dutch, in common language, as the real high water, and the second is called the agger, but so little difference is there between them, that, in making the extensive series of simultaneous tide-observations proposed by Mr. Whewell, the agger was sometimes observed for high water.

1845, George Biddell Airy, Tides and Waves, page 375:

A double tide or agger is a high tide consisting of two maxima of nearly the same height, separated by a relatively small depression; or a low tide consisting of two minima separated by a relatively small elevation.

1969, United States. Naval Oceanographic Office, Navigation Dictionary, page 254:

[page 62:] As can be seen [...], once the water has reached the lowest level, it remains low for some time. After rising slightly, it then drops again and a second low tide follows. Only then does the water rise quickly and the flood sets in. A slight rise like this followed by a drop is called an agger or a double tide. […] [page 279:] […] these 'overtones' may cause the phenomena of agger or double high water […]

2006, Huibert-Jan Lekkerkerk, Handbook of Offshore Surveying:

A double tide, particularly a high tide in which the water rises to a given level, recedes, and then rises again (or only the second of these high waters), but sometimes equally a low tide in which the water recedes to a given level, rises, and then recedes again


seiche

From Swiss French seiche, perhaps from German Seiche (“sinking”).

In September 2023, we detected the start of a 9-day-long, global . . . very-long-period seismic signal, originating from East Greenland. . . .this event started with a glacial thinning-induced rock-ice avalanche of 25 million cubic meters plunging into Dickson Fjord, triggering a 200-meter-high tsunami. Simulations show that the tsunami stabilized into a 7-meter-high long-duration seiche with a frequency. . .and slow amplitude decay that were nearly identical to the seismic signal. An oscillating, fjord-transverse single force . . . reproduced the seismic amplitudes and their radiation pattern relative to the fjord, demonstrating how a seiche directly caused the 9-day-long seismic signal.

2024 A rockslide-generated tsunami in a Greenland fjord rang Earth for 9 days. Science 2024 Vol 385, DOI: 10.1126/science.adm9247

(hydrology) A short-term standing wave oscillation of the water level in a lake, or other confined body of water such as a fjord, characteristic of its geometry.


divide

PIE word
 *dwóh₁
From Middle English dividen, from Latin dīvidere (“to divide”). Displaced native Old English tōdǣlan.

(hydrology) The topographical boundary dividing two adjacent catchment basins, such as a ridge or a crest.


tributary

LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-tributary.wav

PIE word
 *tréyes
From Middle English tributarie (“paying tribute”), from Latin tribūtārius, from tribūtum (“tribute”).

inh

(hydrology) A natural water stream that flows into a larger river or other body of water.


infiltration

en-noun

infiltration (countable and uncountable, plural infiltrations)

From Middle English infiltracioun, from Medieval Latin infiltrātiōnem, infiltrātiō.
Morphologically infiltrate + -ion

The act or process of infiltrating, as of water into a porous substance, or of a fluid into the cells of an organ or part of the body.

(hydrology, soil science) process by which water on the ground surface enters the soil.


celerity

celerity (usually uncountable, plural celerities)

From Old French celeritee (compare French célérité), from Latin celeritas, from celer (“fast, swift”).

(oceanography, meteorology) The speed of an individual wave (as opposed to the speed of groups of waves); often denoted c.

(hydrology) The speed with which a perturbation to the flow propagates through the flow domain.


estuary

/ˈɛst͡ʃʊəɹi/

/ˈɛst͡ʃuˌɛɹi/

From Latin aestuarium (“creek”, “estuary of a river”).

der

The railway then follows the widening estuary of the river, which at high tide has the appearance of a lake, but at low water presents a rather cheerless expanse of dark mud.

1953 February, H. A. Vallance, “To Brighton through the Shoreham Gap”, in Railway Magazine, page 82:

There's something special about tidal estuaries, due to the abundance of wildlife and the ever-changing scenes as the water ebbs or rises. Throw in some moody skies and filtered sunlight, and the views can resemble a painting by Turner - only you don't have to go to the National Gallery to see this, it's brought to your seat on a train.

2020 December 2, Paul Bigland, “My weirdest and wackiest Rover yet”, in Rail, page 65:

A coastal water body where ocean tides and river water merge, resulting in a brackish water zone.

estuarium

place where ocean tides and river water merge

An ocean inlet also fed by fresh river water.

ría

an ocean inlet also fed by fresh river water


runway

→ Czech: runway


yield

en-noun

yield (countable and uncountable, plural yields)

From Middle English ȝeld, from Old English ġield, from Proto-West Germanic *geld, from Proto-Germanic *geldą (“reward, gift, money”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰeldʰ- (“to pay”).
Cognates
Compare West Frisian jild, Dutch geld, Low German and German Geld, Danish gæld, Swedish gäld, Icelandic gjald. See also geld.

inh

A product; the quantity of something produced.

(hydrology) the volume of water escaping from a spring.


hydrology

en-noun

hydrology (usually uncountable, plural hydrologies)

The science of the properties, distribution, and effects of water on a planet's surface, in the soil and underlying rocks, and in the atmosphere

Excessively high floods may be caused by obstructions which were not noted by the observer subsequently removed. Information of this kind is necessary, but it is equally necessary that something of the local hydrology should be also known and applied.

1883, George Robert Bowen Steane, Transactions of the Royal society of Victoria, Notes on Hydrology, page 96:

Operations studies are required to define appropriate hydrologies and facility operations schedules on which to base the Delta modeling.

1991, John Francis DeGeorge, Development of a Computer-aided Support System for Water Resources Simulation:

The properties, distribution, and flows of water in a specific locale; the hydrological characteristics of a particular place or region.


watershed

From water + shed, a calque of German Wasserscheide, a compound of Wasser (“water”) + scheiden (“to divide”).

(hydrology, UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand) The topographical boundary dividing two adjacent catchment basins, such as a ridge or a crest.

вададзе́л

boundary between adjacent catchment basins

(hydrology, US, Canada) A region of land within which water flows down into a specified body, such as a river, lake, sea, or ocean; a drainage basin.


setup

There was a strong wind setup at the south end of the lake after a day of northerly gales.

(hydrology) The tendency of persistent wind to produce higher water levels at the downwind shore of a body of water and lower at the upwind shore.


PH

PH (countable and uncountable, plural PHs)

(business, hydrology) Initialism of professional hydrologist.


WP

(hydrology) Initialism of wilting point.


avulsion

avulsion (countable and uncountable, plural avulsions)

(hydrology) Movement of soil during a flood, or during a change in the course of a river, especially when a resulting change of land ownership is involved.


ice dam

Coordinate term: earthquake dam

(hydrology, glaciology) An obstruction to the flow of a river caused by the flow of a glacier across its course.

(hydrology) An obstruction to the flow of a river caused by the concatenation of surface ice into a ridge that rises above and sinks below the surface causing a blockage, occurring frequently during spring breakup season.


meromictic lake

meromictic lake (plural meromictic lakes)

Any lake whose waters are permanently stratified and do not completely circulate.


SSP

sound speed profile
sound speed profile#English

(hydroacoustics) Initialism of sound speed profile.


catchment basin

catchment basin (plural catchment basins)

(hydrology) A topographic region in which all water drains to a common outlet.


drainage basin

The efficient evaluation of these plans, which may include the construction of dams, reservoirs, and settling basins, requires information on sediment transport in the Cache Creek drainage basin.

1967, Lawrence K. Lustig, Robert D. Busch, Sediment Transport in Cache Creek Drainage Basin in the Coast Ranges West of Sacramento, California, page 2:

(hydrology) A topographic region in which all water drains to a common outlet; a watershed.


distributary

The bed of the distributary is at a slight elevation above that of the main canal, and in the latter is placed an ordinary check regulator controlled by flashboards […]

1894, Herbert Michael Wilson, Engineering Results of Irrigation Survey, U.S. Government Printing Office, page 270:

The physical condition of the distributary itself is in bad shape due to poor maintenance over longer periods of time, especially in the head reach.

1998, Sediment Behavior of Sangro Distributary, Mirpurkhas Sub-division, Sindh, page 6:

[…] stretches of blowing sand and frequent changes in course of its distributaries, does not have the dense population characteristic of other alluvial districts in the Indian subcontinent.

2001, James R. Penn, Rivers of the World: A Social, Geographical, and Environmental Sourcebook, page 115:

(hydrology) A stream of water (either natural or artificial) that branches off and flows away from a main stream channel.

aftakking

a stream of water that branches off and flows away from a main stream channel


residence time

(hydrology) The average time for which a particular molecule of water will remain in a body of water.


radiohydrology

The study of hydrology as used in the processing of radioactive materials.


riverbank

"The best plan will be to walk along the riverbank until we come to the road again," remarked the Lion.

1900 May 17, L[yman] Frank Baum, chapter 8, in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Chicago, Ill.; New York, N.Y.: Geo[rge] M[elvin] Hill Co., →OCLC:

A sloped side of a river acting as a barrier between the water and level ground to either side.


riverbed

/ˈɹɪv.əˌbɛd/

/ˈɹɪv.ɚˌbɛd/

African-American Vernacular, some speakers

[ˈɹɪv.ɚˌbeː]

From river + bed. Compare Dutch rivierbedding (“riverbed”), German Flussbett (“riverbed”), Swedish flodbädd (“riverbed”).

The Hang En tour involves a difficult daylong trek over limestone mountain paths and along riverbeds to the remote indigenous village of Ban Doong.

2014 October 31, David W. Lloyd, “Deep in Vietnam, Exploring a Colossal Cave”, in The New York Times:

Detailed laser surveys carried out by Network Rail revealed that fast-flowing water on the River Eden has caused parts of the riverbed to wash away, posing a risk to the viaduct foundations.

2021 September 8, “Network News: West Coast Main Line viaducts reinforced by underwater concrete”, in RAIL, number 939, page 10:

(hydrology) The path where a river runs, or where a river once ran; the bottom earthen part of a river, not including the riverbanks.


spillway

Absence of filtered undrains beneath spillways or behind walls.

1993, Loren Runar Anderson, Geotechnical practice in dam rehabilitation:

On February 24, 319379 crosses the wrought-iron Carr Mill Viaduct with Northern's 1515 Liverpool Lime Street-Wigan North Western service, viewed from a spillway for the reservoir.

2023 May 31, “Feature Pictorial”, in RAIL, number 984, page 57, photo caption:

A path designed to take away overflow safely.


water cycle

The natural cycle of evaporation of water from the oceans etc, and subsequent condensation and precipitation as rain and snow

የውሃ ኡደት

the natural cycle of water through evaporation, condensation and precipitation


tailrace

(archaic) The part of a millrace that carries water away from a water wheel.


afflux

From Latin affluĕre, affluxum. See affluent.

Backwater due to the crossing as a whole should not be confused with local afflux at piers due to pileup of flow against the hydraulic stagnation point […]

2004, Transportation Association of Canada, Guide to Bridge Hydraulics, →ISBN, page 66:

(hydrology) The rise in water level (above normal) on the upstream side of a bridge or obstruction caused when the effective flow area at the obstruction is less than the natural width of the stream immediately upstream of the obstruction.


ponding

ponding (usually uncountable, plural pondings)

(construction, hydrology) The excessive accumulation of water in low-lying areas, remaining 48 hours after the end of rainfall under conditions ordinarily conducive to drying.


debouche

en-verb

debouche (third-person singular simple present debouches, present participle debouching, simple past and past participle debouched)

debouches (present singular third-person)
debouching (participle present)
debouched (participle past)
debouched (past)

From French déboucher (“to unblock, uncork; to finish; to culminate”), from dé- (“un-”) + boucher (“to block, stop”).

uder

He chose a place called Colmnakill, about six miles farther down the Spey, where a tributary stream, debouching into that river, gave him protection on one side

1829, Robert Chambers, History of the Rebellions in Scotland, page 57:

(hydrology, of a river or stream) To discharge into a larger body of water such as a lake or sea.


peil

Tokyo Peil (TP); Yedogawa Peil (YP); Osaka Peil (OP)

(Japan, hydrology, in compounds) water level


anabranching

Work on anabranching channels has been restricted mainly to the alluvial plains of the Murray and the Murrumbidgee, where the anabranches -- offshoots -- rejoin the original trunk or unite with a next-neighbouring trunk, sometimes after a distance of tens of miles.

1969, Richard J. Chorley with Roger Graham Barry, Water, Earth, and Man, page 425:

In particular, logjams blocked channels and led to the formation of side channels and floodplain sloughs, producing multiple anabranching channels and riverine wetlands that are in stark contrast to the large, single channels that exist in these streams today.

2008 January 18, Robert C. Walter, Dorothy J. Merritts, “Natural Streams and the Legacy of Water-Powered Mills”, in Science, 319(5861), page 299:

(hydrology, of a water channel) Splitting around mid-channel islands that are roughly three times the width of the channel at full discharge.


endorheic

/ˌɛndə(ʊ)ˈɹiːɪk/

LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-endorheic.wav

PIE word
 *h₁én
From English endo- (prefix meaning ‘internal, inside, within’) + Ancient Greek ῥέω (rhéō, “to flow, gush, stream”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *srew- (“to flow, stream”)) + English -ic (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining’ to forming adjectives).

der

[I]n some cases channels leading towards the sea may exist in an endorheic region, in which, however, there is so little rain that the entire load in the water-courses is lost through evaporation before it can reach the mouths of the channels. On the other hand all closed lakes of the kind now being considered must lie in endorheic regions.

1937, Collected Papers: Osborn Zoological Society, Yale University, volume 19, New Haven, Conn.: Osborn Zoological Society, Yale University, →OCLC, page 94:

In the floor of the Rift Valley most of the streams are affected by the tectonic disturbances and are mostly fault-guided besides being endoreic.

1971, Francis F. Ojany, “Drainage Evolution in Kenya”, in S[imeon] H. Ominde, editor, Studies in East African Geography and Development, Berkeley, Los Angeles, Calif.: University of California Press, →ISBN, page 138, column 2:

The calanoid species more frequent in the Pyrenees is Diaptomus cyaneus, species with a relict occurrence in Dalmatia, endorreic and litoral lagoons of the western Mediterranean countries and frequent in the Pyrenees and in the North African Atlas.

1981, Maria-Rosa Miracle, “Biogeographica del Zooplàncton dels Llacs dels Pirineus [Biogeography of the Zooplankton from the Lakes of the Pyrenees]”, in Biogeografia de la Mediterrània Occidental [Biogeography of the Western Mediterranean] (Treballs de la Institució Catalana d’Història Natural [Works of the Catalan Institute of Natural History]; 9), Barcelona: Institució Catalana d’Història Natural, →ISBN, summary, page 147:

In extreme conditions of dryness, desert arises which does not properly exist in Brazil since, according to most geomorphologists, desertification only occurs under endorrhoeic conditions, that is, with the salinization of river basins.

1984 J. Murça Pires "The Amazonian forest" p. 583 in "THE AMAZON Limnology and landscape ecology" Ed. H. SIOLI ISBN-13:978-94-009-6544-7

In other cases, the basin may be large but the water-supply so low that there is no outflow and water leaves only by evaporation. The catchment-derived water-supply, in evaporating, leaves salts and the basin becomes an endorheic (internally drained) salt lake.

1998, Brian Moss, “Lakes, Pools and Other Standing Waters: Some Basic Features of Their Productivity”, in Ecology of Fresh Waters: Man and Medium, Past to Future, 3rd edition, Malden, Mass., Oxford, Oxfordshire: Blackwell Publishing, →ISBN, page 198:

During the Pleistocene, the Ajusco closed the fluvial drainage to form the endoreic basin, which initiated sediment accumulation that eventually covered more than half of the valley [...].

2002, Guadalupe de la Lanza Espino, José Luis García-Calderón, “Historical Summary of the Geology, Climate, Hydrology, Culture, and Natural Resource Utilization in the Basin of Mexico”, in Mark E. Fenn, L. I. de Bauer, Tomás Hernández-Tejeda, editors, Urban Air Pollution and Forests: Resources at Risk in the Mexico City Air Basin (Ecological Studies; 156), New York, N.Y.: Springer-Verlag, →ISBN, →ISSN, page 5:

The basin of Lake Zempoala is endorreic. Precipitation and running off from the watershed are the only source of water income whose budget is not balanced: annual precipitation and evaporation are 1200–1500 mm and 1600 mm, respectively [...].

2002, Judith García-Rodríguez, Rosaluz Tavera, “Phytoplankton Composition and Biomass in a Shallow Monomictic Tropical Lake”, in Javier Alcocer, S. S. S. [Sudarsana] Sarma, editors, Advances in Mexican Limnology: Basic and Applied Aspects (Hydrobiologia; 467), Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, →ISBN, page 91, column 2:

Tibetan lakes in the endorheic basins serve as a sensitive indicator to regional climate and water cycle variability.

2012, Yeqiao Wang, “Remote Sensing of Protected Lands: An Overview”, in Yeqiao Wang, editor, Remote Sensing of Protected Lands (Taylor & Francis Series in Remote Sensing Applications), Boca Raton, Fla.: CRC Press, →ISBN, section 1.4 (Remote Sensing of Frontier Lands), page 13:

Devils Lake is where I began my career as a limnologist in 1964, studying the lake's neotenic salamanders and chironomids, or midge flies. [...] The Devils Lake Basin is an endorheic, or closed, basin covering about 9,800 square kilometers in northeastern North Dakota.

2012 January–February, Douglas Larson, “Runaway Devils Lake”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 1, New Haven, Conn.: Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Society, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2016-04-12, page 46:

(hydrology) Of a basin or lake: having no outflow to an external body of water such as a river or ocean, and only losing water through evaporation or seepage into the ground.


SVP

sound velocity profile
sound velocity profile#English

(hydroacoustics) Initialism of sound velocity profile.


hydroacoustics

Any of various sciences and technologies dealing with sound transmitted through water.


frazil

en-noun

frazil (countable and uncountable, plural frazils)

From Canadian French frasil, frazil, fraisil, from French fraisil (“coal cinders”), from Old French faisil.

Following currents that flow across the Bering and Chukchi shelves, microplastics from the Pacific that arrive in Arctic waters are gathered up by the tiny crystals that clump together to form ‘frazil’ (the gloss of soft ice that forms on the surface of the water) and then are bound into the sea ice.

2020, David Farrier, “The Library of Babel”, in Footprints, 4th Estate, →ISBN:

(Canada, US) A collection of stray ice crystals that form in fast-moving water.

frazil

a collection of stray ice crystals that form in fast-moving water


aeration zone

(hydrology) A portion of the lithosphere in which the functional interstices of permeable rock or earth are not filled by water under hydrostatic pressure.


throughflow

throughflow (countable and uncountable, plural throughflows)

(hydrology) The movement of water horizontally beneath the land surface, usually when the soil is completely saturated.

2001, Harry L. Bryden, Shiro Imawaki, 6.1: Ocean Heat Transport, Gerold Siedler, John Church, John Gould (editors), Ocean Circulation and Climate: Observing and Modelling the Global Ocean, Harcourt Science and Technology (Academic Press), page 464,
As for the Pacific, the unknown size of the Indonesian Throughflow complicates quantitative estimates of heat transport divergence in the Indian Ocean. Because the Throughflow entering the Indian Ocean is warm (about 20°C) relative to its temperature as it exits the Indian Ocean across the southern boundary at 32°S, the overall effect of the Throughflow is to lead to an ocean heat transport convergence over the Indian Ocean.

(hydrology) The movement of an identifiably separate body of water through a larger body (such as a current of fresh water through salt water).


throughfall

throughfall (countable and uncountable, plural throughfalls)

(hydrology) The shedding of excess water from leaves to the ground.


bedload

bedload (countable and uncountable, plural bedloads)

To more effectively measure annual sediment yield (including bedload), sample basins should ideally terminate in a reservoir to trap sediment, including bedload.

2000 July 14, Stanley W. Trimble, Pierre Crosson, “LAND USE: U.S. Soil Erosion Rates--Myth and Reality”, in Science, volume 289, number 5477, →DOI, pages 248–250:

(hydrology, geology) The (large particles of) sediment carried along the bottom of a river or stream, rather than in the current.


brackish water

brackish water (usually uncountable, plural brackish waters)

(hydrology) Water whose salinity falls between that of fresh water and that of seawater.

brakvand

water whose salinity falls between that of fresh water and that of seawater


hydraulic retention time

hydraulic retention time (plural hydraulic retention times)

a measure of the average length of time that a soluble compound remains in a constructed reactor


afterbay

(hydrology) a stream, conduit, pond or reservoir, of a hydroelectric power plant at the outlet of the turbines.


piezometric

(hydrology) Of or relating to a measurement of water pressure inside an aquifer


detention basin

detention basin (plural detention basins)

(hydrology) A depression in the ground installed on a river or stream, which temporarily fills with rainwater that would otherwise cause flooding or downstream erosion, which can then be released at a controlled rate.


anabranch

/ˈænəbɹæntʃ/

/ˈænəbɹɑːntʃ/

From ana- (“extracted from anastomosing”) + branch.

affix

extracted from <i class="Latn mention" lang="en">anastomosing</i>

Such branches of a river as after separation reunite, I would term anastomosing branches; or, if a word might be coined, anabranches, and the islands they form branch islands.

1834, Colonel Jackson, “Hints on the Subject of Geographical Arrangement and Nomenclature”, in The Journal of the Royal Geographical Society, Volume 4:

(hydrology, of a water channel, especially in Australia) A diverging branch of a river, creek, or stream which re-enters the main stream.


water column

(environmental sciences, hydrology) A notional column of water from the surface to the bottom in a natural setting, notable for the differences in physical and chemical properties at various depths.


bound water

en-noun

bound water (countable and uncountable, plural bound waters)

(hydrology) Water that is bound to an inorganic surface.


free water

free water (countable and uncountable, plural free waters)

(hydrology) Water that is not bound to an inorganic surface and can flow freely.


water year

(hydrology) The timespan between October 1 and September 30 of the next year, differing from the calendar year because part of the precipitation that falls in late autumn and winter accumulates as snow and does not drain until the following spring or summer.


debouchure

The outward opening of a river, valley, or strait.


upgradient

en-adj

upgradient (comparative more upgradient, superlative most upgradient)

more upgradient (comparative)
most upgradient (superlative)

Uncontaminated groundwater is found upgradient of a contamination source.

(hydrology) a location that is the source groundwater for another location; similar to upstream.


upgradient

(hydrology) a direction that groundwater flows from.


downgradient

downgradient (comparative more downgradient, superlative most downgradient)

more downgradient (comparative)
most downgradient (superlative)

Monitoring wells are installed downgradient of a contamination source to detect a contaminant plume.

(hydrology) a location that receives groundwater from another location; similar to downstream.


downgradient

(hydrology) a direction that groundwater flows toward.


HDA

en-noun

HDA (countable and uncountable, plural HDAs)

(hydrology, chemistry, physics) Initialism of high-density amorphous ice.


GEWEX

(hydrology) Initialism of Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiment.


GMPP

(hydrology, institution) Initialism of GEWEX Modelling and Prediction Panel.

(hydrology, institution) Initialism of Global Marine and Polar Programme.


riverbend

/ˈɹɪvɚˌbɛnd/


stemflow

stemflow (countable and uncountable, plural stemflows)

(hydrology) The flow of intercepted water down the trunk or stem of a plant.


soligenous

Water drains from surrounding sandy banks into a peaty bowl where it is held by underlying clay, an example of a soligenous mire .

2016 September 27, Susie White, “Shades of Tolkien in a Northumbrian mire”, in The Guardian:

(hydrology, of the water of a region) Produced by groundwater or an inflow of surface water, and not by local precipitation.


catchment area

(hydrology) An area from which water drains into a particular lake, river, etc.; the catchment area of a large river includes its tributaries.


gelbstoff

Borrowed from German Gelbstoff (literally “yellow substance”) (coined by K. Kalle in a 1966 article: see the quotation), from German gelb (“amber, yellow”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰelh₃wós (“yellow”), from *ǵʰelh₃- (“to shine”) + *-wós (“suffix forming adjectives from verb stems”)) + German Stoff (“matter, stuff, substance”) (from Proto-West Germanic *stoppōn (“to close; to fill, stop up”), possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)tew- (“to hit; to push”)).

der

The problem of the Gelbstoff in the sea

1966, K. Kalle, “The Problem of the Gelbstoff in the Sea”, in Oceanography and Marine Biology: An Annual Review, volume 4, Boca Raton, Fla.: CRC Press, →ISSN, →OCLC, article title, page 91:

Like soil humus and humic materials indigenous to freshwaters, seawater gelbstoff absorbs light strongly into the ultraviolet region of the spectrum: Sieburth and Jensen (1968) noted a peak at 263 nm.

1979, Stephen [H.] Spotte, Seawater Aquariums: The Captive Environment, New York, N.Y.: Wiley-Interscience, →ISBN, page 103:

[page 63] Kalle concluded that dissolved yellow substances contribute substantially to any deviation from the blue colour of pure water into the longer wavelengths region of the visible spectrum. […] Chemically the material defied unequivocal characterization, a situation which has remained essentially unchanged. Thus, for want of a systematic designation Kalle called the material "Gelbstoff", the German word for "yellow material". […] Marine Gelbstoff is a material formed in the sea with certain spectral characteristics. It is not derived from terrestrial sources and appears to be composed of fulvic and humic components both of which are structrally different from their terrestrial counterparts. […] [page 67] These are more indications of an autochthonous origin of marine Gelbstoff supported by the interesting observation that Gelbstoff from a bog water precipitated within a week at room temperature when an equal amount of seawater was added to its solution.

1984, M. Ehrhardt, “Marine Gelbstoff”, in Otto Hutzinger, editor, The Natural Environment and the Biogeochemical Cycles (The Handbook of Environmental Chemistry; 1, part 1C), Berlin: Springer-Verlag, →ISBN; reprinted as Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag, 2013, →DOI, →ISBN, pages 63 and 67:

Light is absorbed in water by four components: water itself, dissolved yellow substances (gelbstoff), phytoplankton, and tripton (inanimate particulate material).

1996, Steven W. Effler, Mary Gail Perkins, “Optics”, in Steven W. Effler, editor, Limnological and Engineering Analysis of a Polluted Urban Lake: Prelude to Environmental Management of Onondaga Lake, New York (Springer Series on Environmental Management), New York, N.Y.: Springer-Verlag New York, →ISBN; reprinted as New York, N.Y.: Springer-Verlag, 2012, →DOI, →ISBN, →ISSN, section 7.1 (Introduction), page 535:

(hydrology, oceanography) The optically measurable component of dissolved organic matter in water, which primarily occurs naturally from tannin released from decaying detritus. As the amount of organic matter increases, it causes the water to appear green, yellow-green, and then brown.

المواد العضوية الملونة الذائبة

coloration des matières organiques dissoutes dans l’eau


mudpot

From mud + pot. From being a mud-filled hole, resembling a pot. First use appears c. 1872. See cite below.

but the continual caving in of the sides has produced a sort of mud-pot, exactly the same as the process of preparing a kettle of mush.

1872, Geological Survey of the Territories (U.S.), United States, Department of the Interior, Preliminary Report of the United States Geological Survey of Montana, and Portions of Adjacent Territories, page 92:

(hydrology, volcanology) A type of acidic hot spring, or fumarole, with a limited amount of water.


sofar channel

(hydrology, physics, nautical) The depth in the oceans, usually around 750 m below the surface, where the speed of sound is the lowest, causing it to transmit sound waves generated within this channel for long distances with little attenuation by acting as a waveguide.


lost river

(hydrology) A surface stream which flows into an underground passageway.


cryptorheic

From English crypto- (prefix meaning ‘hidden’) + Ancient Greek ῥέω (rhéō, “to flow, gush, stream”) + -ic (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining’ to forming adjectives).

af

A reasonable deduction would be that under karst (cryptorheic) conditions no surface streams would exist and that we should not look for a "drowned" surface drainage pattern.

1973, W. Manser, New Guinea Barrier Reefs, page 171:

Sonoran — extends from Río Sonoyta to the Río Yaqui and intervening small basins, most of them cryptorheic, through desert and semi-desert areas, west of the Sierra Madre Occidental.

1998, David P. Olson, Freshwater Biodiversity of Latin America and the Caribbean, page 35:

One of these is the cryptorheic basin (hidden river) in the Yucatan State, north of Quintana Roo.

2020, JA León-Borges, F Viveros-Jiménez, A. E. Rodre/guez-Mata, M.A. Lizardi-Jiménez, “Hydrocarbon contamination patterns in the cenotes of the Mexican caribbean: the application of principal component analysis”, in Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology, volume 105:

(hydrology, of a basin or lake) Draining through invisible, subterranean outflows.


TWI

The key reason for the replacement of oak forests was attributed to the presence of more pines in the surrounding landscape, lower levels of winter precipitation, and Topographic Wetness Index (TWI), a measure which quantifies terrain-driven variation in soil moisture.

2021 September 5, Vineet Upadhyay, “Less oak cover in Himalayas could threaten biodiversity: Study”, in The New Indian Express:

topographic wetness index
w:topographic wetness index

(hydrology) Initialism of topographic wetness index.


retention basin

en-noun

retention basin (plural retention basins)

(hydrology, soil science) A depression in the ground containing a permanent pool of water that is replenished by rainwater which would otherwise cause flooding or erosion, which releases the water at a slow rate into the ground or other nearby water bodies.


infiltration basin

infiltration basin (plural infiltration basins)

(hydrology, soil science) A depression in the ground which temporarily fills with rainwater that would otherwise cause flooding or erosion, which empties its contents as groundwater.


lake retention time

lake retention time (countable and uncountable, plural lake retention times)

(hydrology) A calculated quantity expressing the mean time that water, or some dissolved substance, spends in a particular lake.


time of concentration

time of concentration (countable and uncountable, plural times of concentration)

(hydrology) The amount of time required for water to flow from the most remote point in a watershed to the watershed outlet, as a measure of the response of a watershed to a rain event.


detention time

detention time (countable and uncountable, plural detention times)

(hydrology) The amount of time that water is retained in a basin or vessel, or the elapsed time of the water entering a settling basin until it flows out the other end.


jave

Contraction of ice-jam release wave. Coined by geoscientists Martin Jasek & Spyros Beltaos in 2008.

coinage

The effect of the jave depends upon the characteristics of the ice-jam release and downstream ice conditions.

2019, Karl-Erich Lindenschmidt, “Ice-Jam Release Waves (Javes)” (chapter 13), in River Ice Processes and Ice Flood Forecasting: A Guide for Practitioners and Students, 2nd edition, Springer Nature, →ISBN, page 437:

The height of a jave is related to, and smaller than, the difference between the total water depths caused by the parent jam and the (usually) ice-covered or open water flow downstream of the toe.

2021-12-14, Spyros Beltaos, “Assessing the Frequency of Floods in Ice-Covered Rivers under a Changing Climate: Review of Methodology”, in Geosciences, volume 11, number 12, MDPI, →DOI, archived from the original on 2023-06-28, page 518:

(hydrology) A wave of water and ice released downstream when a fluvial ice jam breaks up catastrophically.


ice jam

(climatology, hydrology) A collection of ice that forms in a river and blocks the flow of water, causing the water level to rise.