The page brings together video clips on the KS3/GCSE topic hydrology. The clips cover: the water cycle (evaporation, condensation and precipitation), rivers, climate change leading to floods and droughts and also glaciation.
The clips are drawn from series including Physical Geography with Liz Bonnin, Secondary Geography: Explain this…, Richard Hammond's wild weather, Exploring India, Climate change: Ade on the frontline and UK rivers case studies.
The videos
Discover different types of precipitation…
Why does water fall as rain? video
Richard Hammond demonstrates the effect of water on other physical objects.
How does hail form? video
Richard Hammond explores the weather conditions that form hail.
What is the difference between rain and drizzle? video
Richard Hammond demonstrates a visual technique to distinguish between drizzle and rain.
How rainwater runs downhill forming rivers on its journey to the sea…
The course of a river from source to mouth. video
De-Graft Mensah explores the course of the River Severn. The film is from the KS2 series Exploring UK locations.
How does a river change as it travels downstream? video
An archive clip of Sir David Attenborough as he follows the course of the Amazon River as it travels downstream.
How water in rivers, lakes and oceans evaporates to form clouds, before condensing and falling as precipitation: the Water Cycle…
What is the water cycle? video
Iain Stewart describes the water cycle including evaporation, condensation and precipitation.
How floods happen when there is too much water…
The impact of flooding in the UK. video
Exploring the impact of flooding and the flood management techniques adopted in Somerset following the floods of 2014.
River flooding. video
A short film for secondary schools offering explanation of the causes and effects of river flooding. Footage shows examples of case studies of river flooding in the UK and across the world.
Responses to flooding. video
A short film for secondary schools explaining the common responses to flooding and the methods employed to prevent and reduce flooding. Footage shows examples of hard and soft engineering techniques.
And droughts happen when there is too little water…
Drought in Queensland, Australia. video
Ade Adepitan visits Queensland, where drought has had a devastating effect on the landscape.
Africa - Achieving water security in Southern Africa. video
Exploring the hydrology of Africa, including water shortages and the effects of climate change.
How water is held as ice in glaciers…
Glaciation. video
A short film for secondary schools explaining glaciation: what it is, how it shapes the land and the effects of climate change on the world’s glaciers.
Melting glaciers in Bhutan. video
Ade Adepitan visits Bhutan to see the effects of rising temperatures on the glaciers there, and the danger this poses to the communities further down the valleys.
The significance of one of the world's longest rivers…
Rivers: The Ganges. video
Dua, Amalia and Nayan explore the River Ganges in India and discover its significance to both physical and human geography.
And Paul Whitehouse investigates a variety of issues - including pollution - regarding the UK's rivers and waterways…
UK rivers case studies. collection
In this series of short videos for secondary schools, Paul Whitehouse explores the environmental and ecological issues facing waterways in the United Kingdom.
See also from BBC Bitesize: Rivers
