Syllabus for Statistical Methods in Hydrology

Learning outcomes

On completion of the course, the student should be able to:

• identify statistical methods that can be used to handle large amounts of data
• use statistical tools for modelling and analysis within the environmental sciences
• carry out a time-series analyses
• compute design floods and hydrological extremes

Content

Shapes of probability density functions including measures of central tendency, dispersion and symmetry. Expectation and estimation. Frequency analysis and design floods. Discrete and continuous probability distributions, especially normal and extreme-value distributions. Confidence intervals and hypothesis testing. Correlation, simple and multiple regression. Variance analysis. Parameter-value estimation. Time-series analysis and simple stochastic models. Error theory.

Instruction

Lectures, computer exercises, project work.

Assessment

Grading is based on a written examination (4 credits) and exercises and also the written and oral presentation of project reports (1 credit).

If there are special reasons for doing so, an examiner may make an exception from the method of assessment indicated and allow a student to be assessed by another method. An example of special reasons might be a certificate regarding special pedagogical support from the disability coordinator of the university.