Variability in the in the hydrologic budget in the southern Colombian Pacific

Key determinants of variability in the in the hydrologic budget in the southern Colombian Pacific

Supervisor : Dr. Mark Mulligan, Department of Geography, King's College London

The researcher will examine the relationships between key landscape properties and the variability in the nature and magnitude of the hydrological fluxes : evapotranspiration, overland flow, infiltration and groundwater recharge with a view to defining landscape units of uniform hydrologic response climatic and land surface change. These response units can be used to identify sensitive zones in terms of catchment scale fluxes of water and sediment and will provide a rapid means of assessment of environmental effects of climatic and land surface change, locally and downstream. The student will use remote sensing data within a GIS context to provide maps of hydrological sensitivity to particular types, patterns and areal extents of land use and climatic change for the relatively pristine Telembi catchment and the more degraded Guiza catchments of Nariño. Vorosmarty C, Grace A, Moore B, Choudhury B, Willmott CJ (1991) A Strategy To Study Regional Hydrology And Terrestrial Ecosystem Processes Using Satellite Remote-Sensing, Ground-Based Data And Computer Modeling. Acta Astronautica, 1991, Vol.25, No.12, Pp.785-792