Search Results
You are looking at 1 - 5 of 5 items for
- Author or Editor: Hamid Moradkhani x
- Refine by Access: All Content x
Abstract
Seasonal drought forecasting is presented within a multivariate probabilistic framework. The standardized streamflow index (SSI) is used to characterize hydrologic droughts with different severities across the Gunnison River basin in the upper Colorado River basin. Since streamflow, and subsequently hydrologic droughts, are autocorrelated variables in time, this study presents a multivariate probabilistic approach using copula functions to perform drought forecasting within a Bayesian framework. The spring flow (April–June) is considered as the forecast variable and found to have the highest correlations with the previous winter (January–March) and fall (October–December). Incorporating copula functions into the Bayesian framework, two different forecast models are established to estimate the hydrologic drought of spring given either the previous winter (first-order conditional model) or previous winter and fall (second-order conditional model). Conditional probability density functions (PDFs) and cumulative distribution functions (CDFs) are generated to characterize the significant probabilistic features of spring droughts. According to forecasts, the spring drought is more sensitive to the winter status than the fall status, which approves the results of prior correlation analysis. The 90% predictive bound of the spring-flow forecast indicates the efficiency of the proposed model in estimating the spring droughts. The proposed model is compared with the conventional forecast model, the ensemble streamflow prediction (ESP), and it is found that their forecasts are generally in agreement with each other. However, the forecast uncertainty of the new method is more reliable than the ESP method. The new probabilistic forecast model can provide insights to water resources managers and stakeholders to facilitate the decision making and developing drought mitigation plans.
Abstract
Seasonal drought forecasting is presented within a multivariate probabilistic framework. The standardized streamflow index (SSI) is used to characterize hydrologic droughts with different severities across the Gunnison River basin in the upper Colorado River basin. Since streamflow, and subsequently hydrologic droughts, are autocorrelated variables in time, this study presents a multivariate probabilistic approach using copula functions to perform drought forecasting within a Bayesian framework. The spring flow (April–June) is considered as the forecast variable and found to have the highest correlations with the previous winter (January–March) and fall (October–December). Incorporating copula functions into the Bayesian framework, two different forecast models are established to estimate the hydrologic drought of spring given either the previous winter (first-order conditional model) or previous winter and fall (second-order conditional model). Conditional probability density functions (PDFs) and cumulative distribution functions (CDFs) are generated to characterize the significant probabilistic features of spring droughts. According to forecasts, the spring drought is more sensitive to the winter status than the fall status, which approves the results of prior correlation analysis. The 90% predictive bound of the spring-flow forecast indicates the efficiency of the proposed model in estimating the spring droughts. The proposed model is compared with the conventional forecast model, the ensemble streamflow prediction (ESP), and it is found that their forecasts are generally in agreement with each other. However, the forecast uncertainty of the new method is more reliable than the ESP method. The new probabilistic forecast model can provide insights to water resources managers and stakeholders to facilitate the decision making and developing drought mitigation plans.
Abstract
In an earlier global climate-change study, air temperature and precipitation data for the entire twenty-first century simulated from five general circulation models were used as input to precalibrated watershed models for 14 selected basins across the United States. Simulated daily streamflow and energy output from the watershed models were used to compute a range of statistics. With a side-by-side comparison of the statistical analyses for the 14 basins, regional climatic and hydrologic trends over the twenty-first century could be qualitatively identified. Low-flow statistics (95% exceedance, 7-day mean annual minimum, and summer mean monthly streamflow) decreased for almost all basins. Annual maximum daily streamflow also decreased in all the basins, except for all four basins in California and the Pacific Northwest. An analysis of the supply of available energy and water for the basins indicated that ratios of evaporation to precipitation and potential evapotranspiration to precipitation for most of the basins will increase. Probability density functions (PDFs) were developed to assess the uncertainty and multimodality in the impact of climate change on mean annual streamflow variability. Kolmogorov–Smirnov tests showed significant differences between the beginning and ending twenty-first-century PDFs for most of the basins, with the exception of four basins that are located in the western United States. Almost none of the basin PDFs were normally distributed, and two basins in the upper Midwest had PDFs that were extremely dispersed and skewed.
Abstract
In an earlier global climate-change study, air temperature and precipitation data for the entire twenty-first century simulated from five general circulation models were used as input to precalibrated watershed models for 14 selected basins across the United States. Simulated daily streamflow and energy output from the watershed models were used to compute a range of statistics. With a side-by-side comparison of the statistical analyses for the 14 basins, regional climatic and hydrologic trends over the twenty-first century could be qualitatively identified. Low-flow statistics (95% exceedance, 7-day mean annual minimum, and summer mean monthly streamflow) decreased for almost all basins. Annual maximum daily streamflow also decreased in all the basins, except for all four basins in California and the Pacific Northwest. An analysis of the supply of available energy and water for the basins indicated that ratios of evaporation to precipitation and potential evapotranspiration to precipitation for most of the basins will increase. Probability density functions (PDFs) were developed to assess the uncertainty and multimodality in the impact of climate change on mean annual streamflow variability. Kolmogorov–Smirnov tests showed significant differences between the beginning and ending twenty-first-century PDFs for most of the basins, with the exception of four basins that are located in the western United States. Almost none of the basin PDFs were normally distributed, and two basins in the upper Midwest had PDFs that were extremely dispersed and skewed.
Abstract
Soil moisture (SM) and evapotranspiration (ET) are key variables of the terrestrial water cycle with a strong relationship. This study examines remotely sensed soil moisture and evapotranspiration data assimilation (DA) with the aim of improving drought monitoring. Although numerous efforts have gone into assimilating satellite soil moisture observations into land surface models to improve their predictive skills, little attention has been given to the combined use of soil moisture and evapotranspiration to better characterize hydrologic fluxes. In this study, we assimilate two remotely sensed datasets, namely, Soil Moisture Operational Product System (SMOPS) and MODIS evapotranspiration (MODIS16 ET), at 1-km spatial resolution, into the VIC land surface model by means of an evolutionary particle filter method. To achieve this, a fully parallelized framework based on model and domain decomposition using a parallel divide-and-conquer algorithm was implemented. The findings show improvement in soil moisture predictions by multivariate assimilation of both ET and SM as compared to univariate scenarios. In addition, monthly and weekly drought maps are produced using the updated root-zone soil moisture percentiles over the Apalachicola–Chattahoochee–Flint basin in the southeastern United States. The model-based estimates are then compared against the corresponding U.S. Drought Monitor (USDM) archive maps. The results are consistent with the USDM maps during the winter and spring season considering the drought extents; however, the drought severity was found to be slightly higher according to DA method. Comparing different assimilation scenarios showed that ET assimilation results in wetter conditions comparing to open-loop and univariate SM DA. The multivariate DA then combines the effects of the two variables and provides an in-between condition.
Abstract
Soil moisture (SM) and evapotranspiration (ET) are key variables of the terrestrial water cycle with a strong relationship. This study examines remotely sensed soil moisture and evapotranspiration data assimilation (DA) with the aim of improving drought monitoring. Although numerous efforts have gone into assimilating satellite soil moisture observations into land surface models to improve their predictive skills, little attention has been given to the combined use of soil moisture and evapotranspiration to better characterize hydrologic fluxes. In this study, we assimilate two remotely sensed datasets, namely, Soil Moisture Operational Product System (SMOPS) and MODIS evapotranspiration (MODIS16 ET), at 1-km spatial resolution, into the VIC land surface model by means of an evolutionary particle filter method. To achieve this, a fully parallelized framework based on model and domain decomposition using a parallel divide-and-conquer algorithm was implemented. The findings show improvement in soil moisture predictions by multivariate assimilation of both ET and SM as compared to univariate scenarios. In addition, monthly and weekly drought maps are produced using the updated root-zone soil moisture percentiles over the Apalachicola–Chattahoochee–Flint basin in the southeastern United States. The model-based estimates are then compared against the corresponding U.S. Drought Monitor (USDM) archive maps. The results are consistent with the USDM maps during the winter and spring season considering the drought extents; however, the drought severity was found to be slightly higher according to DA method. Comparing different assimilation scenarios showed that ET assimilation results in wetter conditions comparing to open-loop and univariate SM DA. The multivariate DA then combines the effects of the two variables and provides an in-between condition.
