Information Content of Time-Variant Data

A method is presented for the delineation of optimal sampling frequencies in discrete data acquisition programs commonly encountered in the fields of hydrology and water resources. Statistical treatment and the attendant implications of information content are investigated in terms of the variability of sample mean and sample variance. The method is applied to three arbitrarily chosen streamflow gaging stations in the Eel River Basin, California. An examination of the variation of information content with sampling interval has revealed guidelines for the choice of a sampling frequency such that persistence effects and the consequent redundancy of information are minimized.