scholarly journals Daily flow time series patching or extension: a spatial interpolation approach based on flow duration curves

1996 ◽  
Vol 41 (6) ◽  
pp. 851-871 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. A. HUGHES ◽  
V. SMAKHTIN
Keyword(s):  
Time Series ◽  
Spatial Interpolation ◽  
Flow Time ◽  
Flow Duration ◽  
Flow Duration Curves

scholarly journals Future shifts in extreme flow regimes in Alpine regions

2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (11) ◽  
pp. 4471-4489 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manuela I. Brunner ◽  
Daniel Farinotti ◽  
Harry Zekollari ◽  
Matthias Huss ◽  
Massimiliano Zappa
Keyword(s):  
Time Series ◽  
Frequency Analysis ◽  
Flow Regimes ◽  
High Flow ◽  
Discharge Time ◽  
Climate Conditions ◽  
Flow Duration ◽  
High Flows ◽  
Flow Duration Curves ◽  
Extreme Flow

Abstract. Extreme low and high flows can have negative economic, social, and ecological effects and are expected to become more severe in many regions due to climate change. Besides low and high flows, the whole flow regime, i.e., annual hydrograph comprised of monthly mean flows, is subject to changes. Knowledge on future changes in flow regimes is important since regimes contain information on both extremes and conditions prior to the dry and wet seasons. Changes in individual low- and high-flow characteristics as well as flow regimes under mean conditions have been thoroughly studied. In contrast, little is known about changes in extreme flow regimes. We here propose two methods for the estimation of extreme flow regimes and apply them to simulated discharge time series for future climate conditions in Switzerland. The first method relies on frequency analysis performed on annual flow duration curves. The second approach performs frequency analysis of the discharge sums of a large set of stochastically generated annual hydrographs. Both approaches were found to produce similar 100-year regime estimates when applied to a data set of 19 hydrological regions in Switzerland. Our results show that changes in both extreme low- and high-flow regimes for rainfall-dominated regions are distinct from those in melt-dominated regions. In rainfall-dominated regions, the minimum discharge of low-flow regimes decreases by up to 50 %, whilst the reduction is 25 % for high-flow regimes. In contrast, the maximum discharge of low- and high-flow regimes increases by up to 50 %. In melt-dominated regions, the changes point in the other direction than those in rainfall-dominated regions. The minimum and maximum discharges of extreme regimes increase by up to 100 % and decrease by less than 50 %, respectively. Our findings provide guidance in water resource planning and management and the extreme regime estimates are a valuable basis for climate impact studies. Highlights Estimation of 100-year low- and high-flow regimes using annual flow duration curves and stochastically simulated discharge time series Both mean and extreme regimes will change under future climate conditions. The minimum discharge of extreme regimes will decrease in rainfall-dominated regions but increase in melt-dominated regions. The maximum discharge of extreme regimes will increase and decrease in rainfall-dominated and melt-dominated regions, respectively.

scholarly journals Bias correction of Simulated Historical Daily Streamflow at Ungauged Locations by Using Independently Estimated Flow-Duration Curves

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
William H. Farmer ◽  
Thomas M. Over ◽  
Julie E. Kiang
Keyword(s):  
Bias Correction ◽  
Spatial Interpolation ◽  
Daily Streamflow ◽  
Flow Duration ◽  
Distributional Properties ◽  
Daily Data ◽  
Potential Efficacy ◽  
Flow Duration Curves ◽  
Future Work ◽  
Streamflow Timing

Abstract. In many simulations of historical daily streamflow distributional bias arising from the distributional properties of residuals, however small, has been noted. This bias often presents itself as an underestimation of high streamflow and an overestimation of low streamflow. Here, 1168 streamgages across the conterminous United States having at least 14 complete water years of daily data between October 01, 1980, and September 30, 2013, are used to explore a method for rescaling simulated streamflow to correct the distributional bias. Based on an existing approach that separates the simulated streamflow into components of timing and magnitude, the timing component is converted into simulated nonexceedance probabilities and rescaled to new volumes using an independently estimated flow-duration curve (FDC). In this study, this method is applied to a pooled ordinary kriging simulation of daily streamflow coupled with FDCs estimated by regional regression on basin characteristics. The improvement in the representation of high and low streamflows is correlated with the accuracy and unbiasedness of the estimated FDC. The method is verified by using an idealized case, though, with the introduction of regionally regressed FDCs developed for this study, the method is only useful overall for the upper tails, which are more accurately and unbiasedly estimated than the lower tails. It remains for future work to determine how accurate the estimated FDCs need to be to be useful for bias correction without unduly reducing accuracy. In addition to its potential efficacy for distributional bias correction, this methodology also represents a generalization of nonlinear spatial interpolation of daily streamflow using FDCs. Rather than relying on single index stations as is commonly done to reflect streamflow timing, this approach leverages geostatistical tools to allow a region of neighbors to reflect streamflow timing.

scholarly journals Calibration of hydrological models using flow-duration curves

2010 ◽  
Vol 7 (6) ◽  
pp. 9467-9522 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. K. Westerberg ◽  
J.-L. Guerrero ◽  
P. M. Younger ◽  
K. J. Beven ◽  
J. Seibert ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Time Series ◽  
Input Data ◽  
Calibration Method ◽  
Observation Time ◽  
Input Output ◽  
Discharge Data ◽  
Flow Duration ◽  
Model Efficiency ◽  
Time Periods ◽  
Flow Duration Curves

Abstract. The degree of belief we have in predictions from hydrologic models depends on how well they can reproduce observations. Calibrations with traditional performance measures such as the Nash-Sutcliffe model efficiency are challenged by problems including: (1) uncertain discharge data, (2) variable importance of the performance with flow magnitudes, (3) influence of unknown input/output errors and (4) inability to evaluate model performance when observation time periods for discharge and model input data do not overlap. A new calibration method using flow-duration curves (FDCs) was developed which addresses these problems. The method focuses on reproducing the observed discharge frequency distribution rather than the exact hydrograph. It consists of applying limits of acceptability for selected evaluation points (EPs) of the observed uncertain FDC in the extended GLUE approach. Two ways of selecting the EPs were tested – based on equal intervals of discharge and of volume of water. The method was tested and compared to a calibration using the traditional model efficiency for the daily four-parameter WASMOD model in the Paso La Ceiba catchment in Honduras and for Dynamic TOPMODEL evaluated at an hourly time scale for the Brue catchment in Great Britain. The volume method of selecting EPs gave the best results in both catchments with better calibrated slow flow, recession and evaporation than the other criteria. Observed and simulated time series of uncertain discharges agreed better for this method both in calibration and prediction in both catchments without resulting in overpredicted simulated uncertainty. An advantage with the method is that the rejection criterion is based on an estimation of the uncertainty in discharge data and that the EPs of the FDC can be chosen to reflect the aims of the modelling application e.g. using more/less EPs at high/low flows. While the new method is less sensitive to epistemic input/output errors than the normal use of limits of acceptability applied directly to the time series of discharge, it still requires a reasonable representation of the distribution of inputs. Additional constraints might therefore be required in catchments subject to snow. The results suggest that the new calibration method can be useful when observation time periods for discharge and model input data do not overlap. The new method could also be suitable for calibration to regional FDCs while taking uncertainties in the hydrological model and data into account.

Predicting annual and long-term flow-duration curves in ungauged basins

2007 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 937-953 ◽  
Author(s):  
Attilio Castellarin ◽  
Giorgio Camorani ◽  
Armando Brath
Keyword(s):  
Ungauged Basins ◽  
Flow Duration ◽  
Flow Duration Curves

scholarly journals Exploring the physical controls of regional patterns of flow duration curves – Part 4: A synthesis of empirical analysis, process modeling and catchment classification

2012 ◽  
Vol 16 (11) ◽  
pp. 4483-4498 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Yaeger ◽  
E. Coopersmith ◽  
S. Ye ◽  
L. Cheng ◽  
A. Viglione ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Low Flow ◽  
Middle Portion ◽  
Qualitative Synthesis ◽  
Statistical Parameters ◽  
Regional Patterns ◽  
Flow Duration ◽  
Analysis Process ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Physical Controls ◽  
Flow Duration Curves

Abstract. The paper reports on a four-pronged study of the physical controls on regional patterns of the flow duration curve (FDC). This involved a comparative analysis of long-term continuous data from nearly 200 catchments around the US, encompassing a wide range of climates, geology, and ecology. The analysis was done from three different perspectives – statistical analysis, process-based modeling, and data-based classification – followed by a synthesis, which is the focus of this paper. Streamflow data were separated into fast and slow flow responses, and associated signatures, and both total flow and its components were analyzed to generate patterns. Regional patterns emerged in all aspects of the study. The mixed gamma distribution described well the shape of the FDC; regression analysis indicated that certain climate and catchment properties were first-order controls on the shape of the FDC. In order to understand the spatial patterns revealed by the statistical study, and guided by the hypothesis that the middle portion of the FDC is a function of the regime curve (RC, mean within-year variation of flow), we set out to classify these catchments, both empirically and through process-based modeling, in terms of their regime behavior. The classification analysis showed that climate seasonality and aridity, either directly (empirical classes) or through phenology (vegetation processes), were the dominant controls on the RC. Quantitative synthesis of these results determined that these classes were indeed related to the FDC through its slope and related statistical parameters. Qualitative synthesis revealed much diversity in the shapes of the FDCs even within each climate-based homogeneous class, especially in the low-flow tails, suggesting that catchment properties may have become the dominant controls. Thus, while the middle portion of the FDC contains the average response of the catchment, and is mainly controlled by climate, the tails of the FDC, notably the low-flow tails, are mainly controlled by catchment properties such as geology and soils. The regime behavior explains only part of the FDC; to gain a deeper understanding of the physical controls on the FDC, these extremes must be analyzed as well. Thus, to completely separate the climate controls from the catchment controls, the roles of catchment properties such as soils, geology, topography etc. must be explored in detail.

Annual flow duration curves assessment in ephemeral small basins

2014 ◽  
Vol 519 ◽  
pp. 258-270 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Pumo ◽  
F. Viola ◽  
G. La Loggia ◽  
L.V. Noto
Keyword(s):  
Flow Duration ◽  
Flow Duration Curves
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