Training practice in hydrology (Practice in primary professional skills)

According to the curriculum, there are two training practices on the 1^st year of a bachelor’s degree: meteorological and hydrological in the second semester for 6 weeks.

The hydrological practice (3 weeks) takes place usually at the beginning of summer on the Lena (hydrological post Tabaga) and the Shestakovka rivers. It has a unified program for all students. The general purpose of practice is the consolidation of theoretical knowledge in the discipline “Hydrology with the basics of meteorology”.

The methodological framework of practice is built in accordance with these goals. The practice has three stages: preparatory, field and laboratory.

Preparatory stage. At the beginning of the practice, students receive a safety briefing. Then students are divided into groups of 5-6 - field training teams. Students prepare their observations diaries and familiarize themselves with the methodology of meteorological observations.

Each student group learns about the area where the practice is conducted through various educational activities fundamental geographical characteristics of the area (location, geology, relief, climate, hydrography, soils, and vegetation) and river (name, location, general characteristic, flow conditions, river usage).

Field stage. Hydrological observations and hydrometric works are conducted. Students are given a tour around hydrological posts on the Lena and the Shestakovka rivers. At the observation posts, students are introduced to the work of a hydrologist technician. Under the supervision of an instructor, students familiarize themselves with special observational devices and their functions.

The teams carry out instrumental and visual observations (determination of morphological elements of the river, construction of a transverse profile of the river and drawing up of the river’s valley, determination of water consumption, study of coastal vegetation, determination of the width of the river (“visor” method), measurement of the depth of the river on a hydrological section, determination of water consumption and speed of flow by a float method, determination of water quality). All data are recorded in the observation diaries.

Laboratory stage. At the end of the practice, each student group presents a written report. The report includes the conducted calculation and diagram works (river hydrograph, the longitudinal and transverse profile of the bed), comparative graphs of hydrological values. A group uses the report in subsequent practices and analyze correlations between the components of the geographic environment.

Students are provided with educational literature, topographic and thematic maps, visual educational material, as well as with the necessary specialized meteorological equipment.