Identification of physical processes inherent in artificial neural network rainfall runoff models

The emergence of artificial neural network (ANN) technology has provided many promising results in the field of hydrology and water resources simulation. However, one of the major criticisms of ANN hydrologic models is that they do not consider/explain the underlying physical processes in a watershed, resulting in them being labelled as black‐box models. This paper discusses a research study conducted in order to examine whether or not the physical processes in a watershed are inherent in a trained ANN rainfall‐runoff model. The investigation is based on analysing definite statistical measures of strength of relationship between the disintegrated hidden neuron responses of an ANN model and its input variables, as well as various deterministic components of a conceptual rainfall‐runoff model. The approach is illustrated by presenting a case study for the Kentucky River watershed. The results suggest that the distributed structure of the ANN is able to capture certain physical behaviour of the rainfall‐runoff process. The results demonstrate that the hidden neurons in the ANN rainfall‐runoff model approximate various components of the hydrologic system, such as infiltration, base flow, and delayed and quick surface flow, etc., and represent the rising limb and different portions of the falling limb of a flow hydrograph. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Runoff responses to afforestation in a watershed of the Loess Plateau,China

Afforestation has been suggested as a means of improving soil and water conservation in north‐western China, especially on the Loess Plateau. Understanding of the hydrological responses to afforestation will help us develop sustainable watershed management strategies. A study was conducted during the period of 1956 to 1980 to evaluate runoff responses to afforestation in a watershed on the Loess Plateau with an area of 1·15 km², using a paired watershed approach. Deciduous trees, including locust (locusta L.), apricot (praecox L.) and elm (ulmus L.), were planted on about 80% of a treated watershed, while a natural grassland watershed remained unchanged. It was estimated that cumulative runoff yield in the treated watershed was reduced by 32% as a result of afforestation. A significant trend was also observed that shows annual runoff reduction increases with the age of the trees planted. Reduction in monthly runoff occurred mainly from June to September, which was ascribed to greater rainfall and utilization by trees during this period. Afforestation also resulted in reduction in the volume and peak flow of storm runoff events in the treated watershed with greater reduction in peak flow. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The hydrological influence of black locust plantations in the loess area of northwest China

Black locust (Robina pseudoacacia) has become one of the most important shelter species in the loess area of northwest China. This paper summarizes recent research concerning its hydrological influence, including canopy interception, litter absorption capacity, its effect on rainfall kinetic energy, infiltration rates, surface runoff, soil moisture, and evapotranspiration, and its role in soil conservation. Several predictive models are listed. on the basis of existing results, optimum characteristics for an effective plantation are defined, and problems requiring further research are identified.     

Wavelet analysis of inter‐annual variability in the runoff regimes of glacial and nival stream catchments,Bow Lake,Alberta

Continuous wavelet analyses of hourly time series of air temperature, stream discharge, and precipitation are used to compare the seasonal and inter‐annual variability in hydrological regimes of the two principal streams feeding Bow Lake, Banff National Park, Alberta: the glacial stream draining the Wapta Icefields, and the snowmelt‐fed Bow River. The goal is to understand how water sources and flow routing differ between the two catchments. Wavelet spectra and cross‐wavelet spectra were determined for air temperature and discharge from the two streams for summers (June–September) 1997–2000, and for rainfall and discharge for the summers of 1999 and 2000. The diurnal signal of the glacial runoff was orders of magnitude higher in 1998 than in other years, indicating that significant ice exposure and the development of channelized glacial drainage occurred as a result of the 1997–98 El Niño conditions. Early retreat of the snowpack in 1997 and 1998 led to a significant summer‐long input of melt runoff from a small area of ice cover in the Bow River catchment; but such inputs were not apparent in 1999 and 2000, when snow cover was more extensive. Rainfall had a stronger influence on runoff and followed quicker flow paths in the Bow River catchment than in the glacial catchment. Snowpack thickness and catchment size were the primary controls on the phase relationship between temperature and discharge at diurnal time scales. Wavelet analysis is a fast and effective means to characterize runoff, temperature, and precipitation regimes and their interrelationships and inter‐annual variability. The technique is effective at identifying inter‐annual and seasonal changes in the relative contributions of different water sources to runoff, and changes in the time required for routing of diurnal meltwater pulses through a catchment. However, it is less effective at identifying changes/differences in the type of the flow routing (e.g. overland flow versus through flow) between or within catchments. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Identifying and quantifying urban recharge: a review

The sources of and pathways for groundwater recharge in urban areas are more numerous and complex than in rural environments. Buildings, roads, and other surface infrastructure combine with man-made drainage networks to change the pathways for precipitation. Some direct recharge is lost, but additional recharge can occur from storm drainage systems. Large amounts of water are imported into most cities for supply, distributed through underground pipes, and collected again in sewers or septic tanks. The leaks from these pipe networks often provide substantial recharge. Sources of recharge in urban areas are identified through piezometry, chemical signatures, and water balances. All three approaches have problems. Recharge is quantified either by individual components (direct recharge, water-mains leakage, septic tanks, etc.) or holistically. Working with individual components requires large amounts of data, much of which is uncertain and is likely to lead to large uncertainties in the final result. Recommended holistic approaches include the use of groundwater modelling and solute balances, where various types of data are integrated. Urban recharge remains an under-researched topic, with few high-quality case studies reported in the literature. Electronic Publication     

Ibex diggings in the Negev Desert highlands of Israel as microhabitats for annual plants. Soil salinity, location and digging depth affecting variety and density of plant species

About 400 Nubian ibex (Capra ibex nubiana) dig many hundreds of temporary night beds, approximately 80 cm × 110 cm and 15 cm deep, on slopes near the edges of the cliffs bordering the Zin valley. The beds are used according to the wind direction and the size of the ibex group, which depends on the ibex social behaviour during the year.The diggings are gradually abandoned and become important microhabitats for seed accumulation and germination, seedling development and annual plant establishment. These are influenced by soil salinity, slope direction and angle, digging depth, and the time since the diggings were abandoned. A greater variety of plant species and plant density were found in these diggings than upslope from the diggings.     

黄河流域天然径流量突变性与周期性特征

突变性和周期性是水文时间序列的两个重要特征。黄河流域面积广阔，各区域水文水资源系统演变规律各不相同，它们的突变和周期变化及其形成的物理机制遍异，因此系统分析各区域水资源突变性和周期性特征及其影响机制具有重要意义。把黄河流域划分为15个区域，计算出各区域1951—1998年的年天然径流量系列。利用Mann-Kendall非参数检验方法检测黄河流域各区域年天然径流量的突变年份，结果表明各区域的突变年份不完全一致，主要在1953—1955年、1979—1983年、1991—1993年等发生了突变，这些突变与北半球气候突变具有一致性，且由于下垫面改变、人类活动等影响而复杂化。利用Morlet小波分析各区域年天然径流量的变化周期，发现主要存在3～4a、7～9a、11a的周期，形成这些周期的物理因子有太阳黑子、海—气相互作用和下垫面因素等。通过分析黄河流域主要产流区不同时段小波系数变化，发现20世纪80年代之后年径流量主要以短周期变化。     

The effects of land use on runoff and soil nutrient losses in a gully catchment of the hilly areas： implications for erosion control

1 Introduction Soiland waterlossisoneofthe worldwide environm entalissuesthreatening sustainable land use in semiarid areas.However,soiland water loss is highly variable in space and time,and its variability resultsfrom m any factorsoperating ata wide ran…     

The precipitation infiltration and runoff recharging experiment observation in the Taklimakan Desert

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淮河流域水文随机方法的径流图化(英文)

Theoretical difficulties for mapping and for estimating river regime characteristics in a large-scale basin remain because of the nature of the variable under study: river flows are related to a specific area, i.e. the drainage basin, and are hierarchically organized in space through the river network with upstream-downstream dependencies. Another limitation is there are not enough gauge stations in developing countries. This presentation aims at de-veloping the hydro-stochastic approach for producing choropleth maps of average annual runoff and computing mean discharge along the main river network for a large-scale basin. The approach applied to mean annual runoff is based on geostatistical interpolation proce-dures coupled with water balance and data uncertainty analyses. It is proved by an applica-tion in the upstream at Bengbu in the Huaihe River Basin, a typical large-scale basin in China. Hydro-stochasitic approach in a first step interpolates to a regular grid net and in a second step the grid values are integrated along rivers. The interpolation scheme includes a con-straint to be able to account for the lateral water balance along the rivers. Grid runoff map with 10 km × 10 km resolution and the discharge map along the river with the 1 km basic length unit are the main results in this study. This kind of statistic approach can be widely used be-cause it avoids the complexity of hydrological models and does not depend on the meteoro-logical data.