I asked my friend Michael van der Valk of the Dutch Portal to International Hydrology (Hydrology.nl) if he had some PhD theses from Dutch and other European universites. Next thing I knew there were binders full of theses on my hard drive!
Think I'm kidding? Go here and check them out!
Here are a few that caught my eye:
Linkages between streamflow, climate and catchment characteristics: a global analysis , Hylke E. Beck (2013), PhD thesis, VU University Amsterdam, 122 pp.
The general objectives of this thesis are to relate streamflow characteristics and catchment physiographic attributes over a wide range of catchment and climatic conditions, and to determine the value of speci c satellite remote-sensing products for use in meso- and macroscale hydrological modeling. In
order to ful ll these general objectives, fi ve speci fic objectives have been defi ned, which are addressed in separate chapters. The speci fic objectives are to:
1. Assess the possible improvement in stormflow estimates when using soil moisture proxies (chapter 2)
2. Globally evaluate four AVHRR-based NDVI datasets (chapter 3)
3. Analyze the possible impact of forest regeneration and urbanization on streamflow characteristics for a series of catchments on the island of Puerto Rico (chapter 4)
4. Relate selected catchment physiographic attributes and two important baseflow characteristics using a global streamflow dataset consisting of 3520 catchments, and examine the feasability of producing global maps of these baseflow characteristics using an artifi cial neural network approach (chapter 5)
5. Examine whether global maps of selected streamflow characteristics can be used to calibrate a simple conceptual rainfall-runof f model (chapter 6).
Finally, a summary of the present fi ndings, chief conclusion reached, and suggestions for possible directions for future research are presented in chapter 7.
To achieve these speci c objectives, use is made of large observational datasets which have become available free of charge thanks to organizations such as the Global Runoff Data Centre (GRDC; Koblenz, Germany), the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), rather than restricting oneself to case studies in comparatively small homogeneous regions. The aim is to move away from the reporting of the idiosyncrasies of single sites or catchments which has dominated so much of the older hydrological literature, and instead attempt to identify robust, generalizable relationships applicable to diff erent environments worldwide.
Here's a classic:
Groundwater flow in layered aquifers.
C.J. Hemker (2000); PhD thesis, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, 143 pp.
The focus of this work is deterministic models of saturated groundwater flow in layered aquifer systems. The term ‘layered aquifer system’ is used to denote two types of system: a) a system of multiple aquifers or multi-aquifer system which comprises a series of aquifers separated by confining layers, and b) a vertically heterogeneous, stratified or multi-layered aquifer which is a single aquifer composed of a number of sublayers. Analytical solutions for many different types of well flow in single aquifers are known and used for pumping test analysis, while only few solutions for two-aquifer systems are available. Pumping tests in the Netherlands have shown that sometimes four or more aquifers are involved. The lack of a proper solution for multi-aquifer systems was felt as an omission in well flow theory. The main objective of this study, therefore, was to develop analytical solutions that can be used for determining geohydrological properties from pumping tests in layered aquifer systems. The study was carried out in two separate periods. Flow in multi-aquifer systems was investigated during the years 1979 to 1986 and, more recently, the same solution method was further developed to investigate flow near wells in multi-layered aquifers.
Informing groundwater models with near-surface geophysical data
Daan Herckenrath (2012); PhD thesis, Technical University of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby, 168 pp.
Over the past decade geophysical methods have gained an increased popularity due to their ability to map hydrologic properties. Such data sets can provide valuable information to improve hydrologic models. Instead of using the measured geophysical and hydrologic data simultaneously in one inversion approach, many of the previous studies apply a Sequential Hydrogeophysical Inversion (SHI) in which inverted geophysical models provide information for hydrologic models. In order to fully exploit the information contained in geophysical datasets for hydrological purposes, a coupled hydrogeophysical inversion was introduced (CHI), in which a hydrologic model is part of the geophysical inversion. Current CHI-research has been focussing on the translation of simulated state variables of hydrologic models to geophysical model parameters. We refer to this methodology as CHI-S (State). In this thesis a new CHI-approach was developed, called CHI-P (Parameter), which applies coupling constraints between the geophysical and hydrologic model parameters.
Knock yourself out! Plenty more left!
"Als je hem een vinger geeft, neemt hij de hele hand." - Dutch proverb ("If you give him a finger he will take the whole hand" or "Give him an inch and he'll take a yard.")
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