Dynamics of Hydro-Meteorological and Environmental Hazards

An overview is presented of the physical and biological factors that cause disasters and of their relationships in quantitative terms to the outcomes of these disasters. The chapter begins with an introduction to the atmosphere, which is the starting point of all hydro-meteorological disasters, including the different processes and links that lead to precipitation. The relationship between precipitation and runoff, or floods, including their forecasting techniques is described. The chapter also covers the types and causes of water-related environmental disasters. A quantitative description of mixing processes by Fickian diffusion and by convective dispersion is given. The governing equations and simplifications for conservative and non-conservative types of pollutants, point and non-point sources of pollution, reaction kinetics for non-conservative pollutants, and modeling approaches, are presented. As the health of a waterbody is measured by the dissolved oxygen concentration, an introduction to the oxygen sag curve in rivers is also given.