Hydrology :Hydrology : Water temperature Water temperature

in a riverin a riverLucie Zimmlová

Anglo-Czech High School

České Budějovice - Czech Republic

Main ideas and aims of the Main ideas and aims of the worksheet:worksheet:

To get familiar with water temperature variability in a river

To learn to search for data To learn to work with dataTo use GLOBE pages and other Internet

pages

Structure of the worksheetStructure of the worksheetBackgroundLearning activitiesFormulation of the hypothesisMain task

• - basic part• - more difficult part• - conclusions

Alternative task - a long-term project

BackgroundBackground

Importance of water quality for organisms

Relation of water temperature and water oxygen level

Learning activitiesLearning activities

1. Practical measurements

2. Data search and making graphs

- temperature

- pH

- conductivity...

HypothesisHypothesis

“Does the water temperature usually increase or fall with the distance from the source?”

Why?

Main taskMain taskPart one (basic)Part one (basic)

Actual water temperature in a river

Graph of water temperature distribution from the river source to the river outfall ...

Source of the data: Internet pages of hydrometeorological institute

Using EXCEL

……reading the graphsreading the graphs

“How many graphs do verify your hypothesis?”

“How many graphs do reject your hypothesis?”

“How many graphs do neither verify nor reject your hypothesis?”

“Now, is your hypothesis correct?”

Main taskMain taskPart two (more difficult)Part two (more difficult)

Source of the data: GLOBE databaseTwo schools doing measurements in the

same river

• !!!Are you sure???

• - find “Water body name”

• - write e-mail to schools

Work with the dataWork with the data(basic)(basic)

Graphs and tables of all water temperature data

- the lowest temperature measured- the highest temperature measured...

Work with the dataWork with the data(advanced)(advanced)

Find a day of every month during one year that both schools measured water temperature in

Fill the table …

Fill the tableFill the table

Month School 1 (nearer tothe river source)

School 2 (nearer tothe river outfall)

Higher temperaturemeasured by school

number:

I

II

III

IV

V

VI

VII

VIII

IX

X

XI

XII

Answer the question:Answer the question:

“Does the data verify your hypothesis?”

If not, try to tell why!

ConclusionsConclusions(main task)(main task)

“Does the water temperature usually increase or fall with the distance from the river?”

“Why do the data appear that do not verify the hypothesis, although you had found out, that the hypothesis is right?”

“Give a couple of suggestions of factors that can influence this!”

Alternative task - a long-term Alternative task - a long-term projectproject

Make various measurements from the source to the outfall of a river or a stream

Observe animals and plantsDraw maps, graphs, make tables...Make it public!

Only if you know the river, you are able to protect it!!!

Teacher’s notesTeacher’s notes

Subjects: biology, chemistry, geographyAge: 12 to 18Time needed (in computer lab):

• - part one: 45 min

• - part two: 60 min

PrerequisityPrerequisity

Being familiar with EXCEL (or similar)

RecommendationRecommendation

Teacher should give an advice to the student which schools are appropriate for the task two:

- making measurements in the same river

- having enough data

Some factors that can Some factors that can influence temperature in a riverinfluence temperature in a river

Local weather (air temperature, rainfall…)Discharges e.g. from factories, power stations AffluentsRiver depthDamsRapids...

Water temperature in Vltava river Water temperature in Vltava river 20022002

0,0

5,0

10,0

15,0

20,0

25,0

I-02

II-02

III-02

IV-0

2V-0

2VI-0

2

VII-02

VIII-02

IX-0

2X-0

2XI-0

2

XII-02

MONTHS

TE

MP

ER

AT

UR

E °

C

Vltava - Vyšší Brod

Vltava - České Budějovice

Thank you for your attention!Thank you for your attention!

Do you have any questions?