Using real data from NASA's GRACE satellites, students will track water mass changes in the U.S., data that measures changes in ice, surface and especially groundwater. The background information includes an animated video about where water exists and how it moves around Earth, as well as short video clips to introduce the GRACE mission and explain how satellites collect data. Students will estimate water resources using heat-map data, create a line graph for a specific location, then assess trends and discuss implications.

This activity illustrates the importance of water resources and how changes in climate are closely linked to changes in water resources. The activity could fit into many parts of a science curriculum, for example a unit on water could be connected to climate change.

This class serves as an introduction to mass transport in environmental flows, with emphasis given to river and lake systems. The class will cover the derivation and solutions to the differential form of mass conservation equations. Class topics to be covered will include: molecular and turbulent diffusion, boundary layers, dissolution, bed-water exchange, air-water exchange and particle transport.

Groundwater is one of the largest sources of drinking water, so environmental engineers need to understand groundwater flow in order to tap into this important resource. Environmental engineers also study groundwater to predict where pollution from the surface may end up. In this lesson, students will learn how water flows through the ground, what an aquifer is and what soil properties are used to predict groundwater flow.

In this activity, students focus on ecosystem services specifically related to the hydrologic cycle. Using rainfall-runoff data for a small watershed in Ohio, students are introduced to the technical vocabulary associated with watersheds, watershed hydrology, and water balance. Working with hydrologic data will enable the students to test their understanding of watershed hydrology and the water balance equation, which is a measure of how much water is stored within different parts of the watershed.

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Students will conduct a virtual exploration of Harrier Meadow, a saltmarsh in the New Jersey Meadowlands. They will identify its vulnerability to pollution, its tidal connection to the Hackensack Estuary and the Atlantic Ocean along with its proximity to New York City. Vegetation patterns within this wetland will be explored, focusing on a salinity tolerant native plant (Pickleweed) that is returning to the marsh. The return of such native species is critically important to wetland restoration efforts that aim to reclaim native habitat following decades of environmental degradation since the industrial revolution. These vegetation patterns are the focus of resistivity and electromagnetic surveys that the students explore in the subsequent units of this module. The geophysical surveys aim to better understand the underlying factors controlling the distribution of Pickleweed. By understanding where the Pickleweed is thriving, restoration efforts could subsequently be improved by locating regions of such wetlands with similar underlying factors where Pickleweed (and other native plants) could be successfully reintroduced. In the first unit of this module, students will use Google Earth (on the web), high-resolution video acquired from an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) and an ArcGIS Storymap in their exploration. Primary outcome: students comprehend the association between salinity and Pickleweed and formulate plans to test a hypothesis for Pickleweed persistence/patterning in Harrier Meadow that will ultimately be implemented using near surface geophysical methods in the remaining units of the module.

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How does water move throughout the Earth system? How do scientists measure the amount of water that moves through these pathways? This unit provides an alternative way for students to learn the major components of Earth's water cycle, which includes actively thinking about how we measure the water system. In this unit, students annotate a schematic diagram to identify the major reservoirs and fluxes in the hydrosphere. They also work in teams of different "experts" to identify traditional and geodetic techniques that are used to measure components of the hydrosphere and the changes over time. Using their recently acquired knowledge about these techniques, they make inferences about which methods are best for measuring different components of the hydrosphere. Measurement methods include stream gauges, groundwater wells, snow pillows, vertical GPS changes, reflection GPS for snow depth, and GRACE satellite (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment).

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Online-adaptable: Main exercise is a jigsawactivity that could be done in an online course but student groups with online collaboration (probably synchronous) would need to be organized OR the exercise would need to be adapted away from group format.

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Students will investigate the history of the environmental justice movement in the United States by situating it within the context of the US civil rights and environmental movements. The unit also makes connections to issues of environmental equity on a global scale. Student-centered discussions will connect environmental justice with the scientific background of the issues, and in particular its interrelatedness with hydrologic concepts.

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In this unit, students investigate the history of the environmental justice (EJ) movement in the United States, situating it within the context of the US civil rights and environmental movements. Students also make connections to issues of environmental equity on a global scale. The unit serves as a foundation for exploring the scientific background of environmental justice issues in subsequent units, particularly the interrelatedness of hydrology and hydrologic concepts.

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This unit introduces the hydrological cycle to provide context for the module as a whole. It particularly focuses on those portions of the hydrological cycle that take place on land and that form the basis for water that is used by society. Students conduct a stakeholder analysis to better understand societal issues around water. Then the scientific exercise of the unit emphasizes quantitative approaches to describing the critical portions that humans have access to: surface water and shallow ground water. Students calculate residence times and fluxes between reservoirs and track water particles on an annual basis. They also explore available data sets for specific reservoirs such as snowpack and rivers.

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Online-adaptable: This exercise could be converted to online whole-class discussions/lectures and a breakout group activity. Would be best done synchronously.

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In this three to four class unit, students will:

Assess the case for a global water crisis and its relevance in America.
Expand their understanding of sustainability as a contestable concept and movement.
Consider water resource-management objectives through the lens of sustainability.
Analyze region-specific examples of unsustainable use of water for agriculture.

This is largely achieved via student discussion and evaluation of texts and statistics provided to them. The text and statistics are derived from a variety of disciplines, mostly not from the geosciences. As such, the unit is very interdisciplinary, requiring students to synthesize disparate information and take a holistic perspective on water issues.

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In this activity, students model the impact of land-cover changes on stormwater runoff using the EPA's National Stormwater Calculator (Calculator). The students are introduced to the Calculator through a tutorial. Students are provided with a particular site -- a residential neighborhood -- and model two land-use scenarios associated with it: (1) a pre-expansion scenario that includes current forest and developed land cover, and (2) a post-expansion scenario, under which the forest cover will be developed as low-intensity residential.

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In this activity, students model the impact of changes in land cover on stormwater runoff using the EPA's National Stormwater Calculator. Students mitigate increased stormwater runoff resulting from development with low impact development (LID) controls. Students assess the LID controls in terms of the ecosystem services that they are intended to replace and discuss alternative development designs to reduce the need for them.

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In this activity, students model the impact of a proposed land-use change for a local site using the EPA's National Stormwater Calculator (Calculator). Given a description of the proposed land-use change, students devise and execute a series of simulations in the Calculator that model its potential impact on stormwater retention. Using additional simulations, students explore changes to the site that utilize low impact development (LID) controls to mitigate stormwater runoff.

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This unit provides students with experience analyzing traditional (depth to water table measured in a well) and geodetic: GRACE (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment) data for monitoring changes in groundwater storage in the High Plains Aquifer. Variations across timescales are compared, from seasonal to interannual to decadal. This comparison highlights some of the challenges associated with quantifying changes in groundwater storage at the regional scale. Aquifer properties are used to consider changes in terms of both "depth to water table" and water storage. Students are asked to formulate explanations for the observed variations in the context of the water balance equation. Students compare their results to a multidecadal trend reported in the literature (Konikow, 2011).

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Online-ready: The exercise is electronic and could be done individually or in small online groups. Lecture is best done synchronously due to the technical nature. Discussion would be better that way too.

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Electrical measurement of unconsolidated soils in the laboratory.

Provenance: Lee Slater, Rutgers University-Newark
Reuse: This item is in the public domain and maybe reused freely without restriction.
Archie (1950) defined the term petrophysics to describe the study of the physics of rocks, particularly with respect to the fluids they contain. Although originally focused on geophysical exploration, petrophysics concepts are now used to interpret near surface geophysics measurements made to address environmental and engineering problems. This unit investigates relationships between these geophysical measurements and the physical and chemical properties of soils and sediments in the Earth's near subsurface. The specific focus is on the electrical properties of soils and how they are related to the ionic concentration of the pore fluids, the water content, porosity and grain size. Field results from a geophysical survey performed in Kearny Marsh, close to Harrier Meadow, are included to illustrate how electrical conductivity of a soil measured with an electromagnetic sensor is a good proxy for pore fluid ionic concentration, in this case related to contamination from a bordering landfill.

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In Unit 2, students learn how the techniques for water budgeting (covered in Unit 1) can be used to monitor both groundwater (High Plains Aquifer) and surface water (western mountain watershed) systems. Students interpret time-series plots that show the impact of drought years and wet years on underground water storage in the High Plains Aquifer and on snowpack and surface runoff in the western mountain watershed. They also consider the societal implications of water deficits through a series of pre-class readings, questions embedded in the assignments, and small and whole-group discussions. This unit can involve substantial computer time during which students use Excel to view and interpret hydrologic data. An alternative version with hard-copy graphs is also provided.

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Online-adaptable: Both parts of this unit are completely digital and thus at a logistical level it can be switched to online fairly easily. However, due to the relative complexity of the data investigations, there will still be quite a bit of instructor support needed and/or extended small group that should be arranged.

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Students will be introduced to the concept of a natural cycle. They are first asked to identify the different components of the hydrologic cycle. Students will be able to recognize the delicate balance between the individual elements of a large and complex system. Students will also be able to identify the interactions among parts of a natural system.

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Unit 2 engages students in topics related to the water cycle, both from natural and urban system perspectives. Students are assigned approximately 30 minutes of reading (short article) and are required to watch a 15-minute video before class to gain a basic understanding of the natural and urban water cycles, their components, and the impact of urbanization on runoff. Through short lectures, discussion questions, solution to example problems, and a group activity, students gain comprehension of the water cycle components, their spatial and temporal variability, water budget calculation, and the impacts of urbanization on surface water.

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Unit 2 opens a window into water accounting and reveals intensive water use that few people think about. How much water goes into common commodities? Have you considered how much water it takes to support our modern American lifestyle and agricultural trade? Water that is embedded in products and services is called virtual water. Looking at the world through the lens of virtual water provides a watery focus to thorny discussions about water such as: the pros and cons of globalization and long distance trade; self sufficiency vs. reliance on other nations; ecosystem impacts of exports; and the impacts of relatively cheap imports on indigenous farming. Unit 2 also introduces the concept of a water footprint. A water footprint represents a calculation of the volume of water needed for the production of goods and services consumed by an individual or country. In this unit students will calculate their individual footprints and analyze how the water footprints of countries vary dramatically in terms of gross volumes and their components. As a result of these activities, students will learn of vast disparities in water access and application. They will also be challenged to consider mechanisms or policies that could foster greater equity in water footprints.

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This unit is designed to allow students to quantitatively assess how much water is used for irrigating crops and how this varies across the United States. This unit also has students link water use to the economic value of the crops that are produced--spanning the scientific and economic disciplines. The concepts that students learn here will connect back to the Water Footprint concept that was introduced in Unit 2, as students consider the accuracy of water calculators.

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