Courses

Hydrologic sciences coursework is designed to assure competency in the appropriate subject matter at the graduate level.

The number of required courses is intentionally kept low so that the student is free to design an overall academic program that meets the needs of their specialized scholarly interests. Hydrologic sciences courses are included in the minimum semester hours required for all graduate students. 

Five courses, totaling a minimum of 15 credit hours, are required as follows:

  • Advanced Quantitative Skills: one course from List A
  • Introduction to a Hydrologic Science: one course from List B or an additional course from List A
  • Three elective courses or additional courses from List A and/or List B

Core Requirements

Choose two, at least one must be from the List A (six credits total).

Course List
CodeTitleCredit Hours
List A: Advanced Quantitative Skills 
ATOC 5050Atmospheric Thermodynamics and Dynamics3
ATOC 5060Dynamics of the Atmosphere and Oceans3
CVEN 5313Environmental Fluid Mechanics3
CVEN 5353Groundwater Hydrology3
CVEN 5464Environmental Engineering Processes3
ERTH 5110Geomechanics3
List B: Introduction to a Hydrologic Science 
ATOC 5051Introduction to Physical Oceanography3
ATOC 5061Advanced Ocean Dynamics and Air-Sea Coupled ENSO Mechanisms3
CVEN 5333Physical Hydrology3
CVEN 5404Water Chemistry3
GEOG 5241Topics in Physical Geography (Fluvial Geomorphology)3
GEOG 5251River Processes and Forms: Fluvial Geomorphology3-4
GEOG 5321Snow Hydrology3-4

Elective Courses

Choose 3, additional classes from the core list may serve as electives (nine credits total)

Course List
CodeTitleCredit Hours
ATOC 5200Biogeochemical Oceanography3
ATOC 5235Introduction to Atmospheric Radiative Transfer and Remote Sensing3
ATOC 5550Mountain Meteorology3
ATOC 5600Physics and Chemistry of Clouds and Aerosols3
ATOC 5730Physical Oceanography and Climate3
ATOC 5750Desert Meteorology and Climate3
ATOC 5780Ice Sheets and Climate3
CHEM 5141Environmental Water and Soil Chemistry3
CVEN 5122The Colorado River Water Crisis: Water Policy, Hydrological Variability, and Climate Change3
CVEN 5133Land Use and Water Quality3
CVEN 5303Analysis of Urban Water Systems3
CVEN 5323Applied Stream Ecology3
CVEN 5343Transport and Dispersion in Surface Water3
CVEN 5363Modeling of Hydrologic Systems3
CVEN 5383Applied Groundwater Modeling3
CVEN 5424Environmental Organic Chemistry3
CVEN 5454Statistical Methods for Natural and Engineered Systems3
CVEN 5537Numerical Methods in Civil Engineering3
CVEN 5833Special Topics (Surface-Groundwater Exchanges)3
EBIO 5030Limnology3
EBIO 5155Ecosystem Ecology4
ENVS 5840Global Biogeochemical Cycles3
ERTH 5093Remote Sensing of the Environment4
ERTH 5270Marine Chemistry and Geochemistry3
ERTH 5280Aqueous and Environmental Geochemistry3
ERTH 5305Global Biogeochemical Cycles3
ERTH 5430Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology3
ERTH 5700Earth Science Topics Seminar (Terrestrial Hydrology)1-4
ERTH 5700Earth Science Topics Seminar (Sedimentary Modeling)1-4
ERTH 5721Classics and Frontiers in Hydrology2
ERTH 5775Introduction to Numerical Modeling in Geoscience3
GEOG 5023Advanced Quantitative Methods for Spatial Data4
GEOG 5093Remote Sensing of the Environment4
GEOG 5241Topics in Physical Geography (Watershed Biogeochemistry)3
GEOG 5241Topics in Physical Geography (Mountain Hydrology)3
GEOG 5241Topics in Physical Geography (Snow from Space)3
GEOG 5241Topics in Physical Geography (Adv in Measuring Mtn Snowpack)3
GEOG 5271The Arctic Climate System3
GEOG 5303Geographic Information Science: Spatial Programming4
GEOG 5463Earth Analytics Data Science Bootcamp3