What do hydrologist study

While a bachelor's degree is sufficient for some entry-level jobs, most hydrologists will need a graduate degree in the natural sciences. Since there are very few undergraduate programs in hydrology specifically, students interested in this career path should seek out hydrology concentrations within geosciences, engineering, or earth science programs.

Coursework typically includes math, statistics, physical sciences, computer sciences, and life sciences. Courses in environmental law or public administration may be helpful for communicating with project partners from other fields. Computer modeling, data analysis, and digital mapping are highly marketable skills for hydrologists. Licensing may be required for hydrologists in some states. Its certifications help ensure quality within this critical profession, and increase the marketability of certified individuals.

The Institute establishes standards, provides education and training, and advises government agencies on hydrologic matters.

It aims to facilitate the exchange of ideas and knowledge about hydrology through discussion boards and the Journal of Environmental Hydrology. The association is also a charitable organization that aids members working in developing countries. A snake milker is a specialist zoologist who is able to extract venom from snakes and other venomous reptiles for the purpose of creating anti-venom or for medical research.

What Does a Snake Milker Do? A snake milker is a Environmental Monitors take environmental samples of the elements around us to examine its composition. What Does an Environmental Monitor Do? Environmental Monitoring is a vital role in determining health and safety issues for the purpose of public health or environmental Paleobiologsts study remains of extinct species no matter the size, distribution or age, to study the evolution of all biological life.

What Does a Paleobiologist Do? A paleobiologist examines fossilized remains of dead biological life. Where paleontologists examine the fossilized A GIS Technician uploads data and ensures its accuracy, relevance and that it is up to date. Water resources problems are also the concern of meteorologists, oceanographers, geologists, chemists, physicists, biologists, economists, political scientists, specialists in applied mathematics and computer science, and engineers in several fields. Hydrologists apply scientific knowledge and mathematical principles to solve water-related problems in society: problems of quantity , quality and availability.

They may be concerned with finding water supplies for cities or irrigated farms, or controlling river flooding or soil erosion. Or, they may work in environmental protection: preventing or cleaning up pollution or locating sites for safe disposal of hazardous wastes.

Persons trained in hydrology may have a wide variety of job titles. Scientists and engineers in hydrology may be involved in both field investigations and office work. In the field, they may collect basic data, oversee testing of water quality, direct field crews and work with equipment. Many jobs require travel, some abroad. A hydrologist may spend considerable time doing field work in remote and rugged terrain. In the office, hydrologists do many things such as interpreting hydrologic data and performing analyses for determining possible water supplies.

Much of their work relies on computers for organizing, summarizing and analyzing masses of data, and for modeling studies such as the prediction of flooding and the consequences of reservoir releases or the effect of leaking underground oil storage tanks.

The work of hydrologists is as varied as the uses of water and may range from planning multimillion dollar interstate water projects to advising homeowners about backyard drainage problems. Most cities meet their needs for water by withdrawing it from the nearest river, lake or reservoir. Hydrologists help cities by collecting and analyzing the data needed to predict how much water is available from local supplies and whether it will be sufficient to meet the city's projected future needs.

To do this, hydrologists study records of rainfall , snowpack depths and river flows that are collected and compiled by hydrologists in various government agencies.

They inventory the extent river flow already is being used by others. Managing reservoirs can be quite complex, because they generally serve many purposes. Reservoirs increase the reliability of local water supplies.

Hydrologists use topographic maps and aerial photographs to determine where the reservoir shorelines will be and to calculate reservoir depths and storage capacity. This work ensures that, even at maximum capacity, no highways, railroads or homes would be flooded. Deciding how much water to release and how much to store depends upon the time of year, flow predictions for the next several months, and the needs of irrigators and cities as well as downstream water-users that rely on the reservoir.

If the reservoir also is used for recreation or for generation of hydroelectric power , those requirements must be considered. Decisions must be coordinated with other reservoir managers along the river. Hydrologists collect the necessary information, enter it into a computer, and run computer models to predict the results under various operating strategies.

On the basis of these studies, reservoir managers can make the best decision for those involved. The availability of surface water for swimming, drinking, industrial or other uses sometimes is restricted because of pollution.

Pollution can be merely an unsightly and inconvenient nuisance, or it can be an invisible, but deadly, threat to the health of people, plants and animals. Hydrologists assist public health officials in monitoring public water supplies to ensure that health standards are met. When pollution is discovered, environmental engineers work with hydrologists in devising the necessary sampling program.

Water quality in estuaries, streams, rivers and lakes must be monitored, and the health of fish, plants and wildlife along their stretches surveyed. Related work concerns acid rain and its effects on aquatic life, and the behavior of toxic metals and organic chemicals in aquatic environments. Hydrologic and water quality mathematical models are developed and used by hydrologists for planning and management and predicting water quality effects of changed conditions.

Simple analyses such as pH , turbidity , and oxygen content may be done by hydrologists in the field. Other chemical analyses require more sophisticated laboratory equipment. In the past, municipal and industrial sewage was a major source of pollution for streams and lakes.

Such wastes often received only minimal treatment, or raw wastes were dumped into rivers. Today, we are more aware of the consequences of such actions, and billions of dollars must be invested in pollution-control equipment to protect the waters of the earth. Other sources of pollution are more difficult to identify and control. These include road deicing salts, storm runoff from urban areas and farmland, and erosion from construction sites.

Groundwater , pumped from beneath the earth's surface, is often cheaper, more convenient and less vulnerable to pollution than surface water. Therefore, it is commonly used for public water supplies. Groundwater provides the largest source of usable water storage in the United States. Underground reservoirs contain far more water than the capacity of all surface reservoirs and lakes, including the Great Lakes.

In some areas, ground water may be the only option. Data from their research is placed into computer programs so computer models can be created to help researchers determine trends in the body of water they are studying.

Hydrologist will then write reports and present their findings. Hydrologists work with other scientists and may supervise hydrologist technicians. Bureau of Labor Statistics, U. The career video is in the public domain from the U.