Variability in Canadian Seasonal Streamflow Information and Its Implication for Hydrometric Network Design
Publication: Journal of Hydrologic Engineering
Volume 19, Issue 8
Abstract
Hydrologic extremes such as severe storms, floods, and droughts are inherently seasonal in nature and remain the main concern in designing hydrometric networks. In general, hydrometric networks have been designed without paying particular attention to the effect of seasonal streamflow information (SSI) at gauging stations on the efficiency of the hydrometric networks. This paper evaluates the effect of SSI on streamflow networks based on nonparametric implementation of entropy theory using the kernel density approach for estimating the mutual information between gauging stations on a seasonal basis. Overall, it is shown that the SSI of individual stations is season dependent and the efficiency of the streamflow network is also season dependent, therefore the effect of seasonality should be incorporated in future hydrometric network design. This methodology was applied at five river basins in Canada and its role for network design is discussed.
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Acknowledgments
This work was financially supported by the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (OMNR) and the Alberta Environment. The authors are thankful to the editor, Ilias Pechlivanidis, and two anonymous reviewers for constructive suggestions, which significantly improved the quality of this manuscript. The authors acknowledge the student contribution of Francis Gagnon and David Stevenson in preparing the analysis data and maps.
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Journal of Hydrologic Engineering
Volume 19 • Issue 8 • August 2014
Copyright
© 2014 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Dec 3, 2012
Accepted: Jan 13, 2014
Published online: Jan 15, 2014
Published in print: Aug 1, 2014
Discussion open until: Oct 21, 2014
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