1. Hydrology and Environment © The hydrological aspects of sustainable development R. Vedom, PhD Hydrology and Environment www.hydrology.ca Water Resources Management 2011, 23-25 May 2011, Riverside, USA In memory of my friend Elizabeth Bedwell

2. Hydrology and Environment © Objective To introduce a new hydrological method of sustainability assessment: the Harmonised Frequencies Analysis ™ (HFA) To find: The benchmark definition of sustainability The functional definition of the water cycle

3. Hydrology and Environment © The water cycle Absorption Weathering H2OH2O OH radicals UV radiation Solar radiation Scavenging acid, aerosol Reflection Poleward heat transport Criosphere: snow, ice, glaciers, permafrost Reflection Infrared Ecosystem functioning Land Dissolved ions, Sediment, Carbon, Nutrients Pollu- tants Rhizosphere Erosion Tundra CH 4 Leachate Nitrate NO NO 2 N 2 O NH 3 Evapora- tion Precipita- tion Atmosphere CO 2 CH 4 CO COS SO 2 Sea ice Marine eco- system functioning Ocean Ocean conveyor Carbonate CO 2 Biosphere

4. Hydrology and Environment © HFA Technically: a solution for the water, matter and energy cycles indivisibility, functionality, and scale- invariance; Mathematically: combination of asymptotic, uniformly bounded, and structural stabilities of the dynamic water system; Statistically: manifestation of the “componential” independency of the system’s variables Socially: the universal facilitator of the interdisciplinary collaboration Methodically: the parametrical and statistical analysis of a special way processed and structured data into a single system Signal processing harmonization statistical analysis

5. Hydrology and Environment © Signal processing Positive daily gradients (dQ) distribution in frequency domain Precipitation, mm dQb Stable base dynamic limit 0 9 18 0150300450 Temperature, °C dQi, Ki? Bounded dynamic limit Humber R. flow, m 3 /s dQmax, Kmax Unbounded dynamic limit dQmax = dQb*2^(Kmax +0.62) -20 0 20 40 Temperature, °C 0 30 60 Precipitation, mm Variables in time domain, daily scale Humber R. flow, m 3 /s 0 35 70 Time domainFrequency domain

6. Hydrology and Environment © Harmonization: the Structural Harmony Chart of Hydrosphere ™ Zero tension point Tension releasing point Equilibrium tension point

7. Hydrology and Environment © Humber R. watershed assessment, 1953-2006 1.Continual urbanization and contamination of the watershed at the current speed in combination with proper water management but lack of vegetation result in alteration of the water cycle’s functional profile, i.e. the drainage function takes over the temperature control reducing the atmospheric moisture 2.Temperature, having the decreasing trend during the period at the yearly scale, currently demonstrates the marginal asymptotic stability at the hourly scale 3.Self-stabilization mechanism at the hourly scale under slowly decreasing atmospheric moisture as the yearly background exploits more and more often tornado, in which the same water spinning furiously providing the avalanche-type condensation Based on these results, sustainability of water resources at particular spacetime can be identified as the functional stability of the water cycle within this spacetime

8. Hydrology and Environment © Conclusions HFA, based on functionality and indivisibility of the water, energy, and matter cycles, is the reliable technical tool for sustainability assessment: It is a new way of down- and up-scaling and use of all available multi-scale data within the same analysis Provides the control between the dynamic structures of input and output in modeling Provides a solid base for the dynamic definition of sustainability as the functional stability

9. Hydrology and Environment © Thank you for your attention! Questions?