Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 December 2009
INTRODUCTION
The primary objective of this chapter is to describe recent research on the design of real-time, adaptive forecasting procedures for the prediction of flow (discharge) or river level (stage) in river systems and to illustrate this with a case study based on data from a semi-arid river catchment in Western Australia. In particular, the aim is to produce an on-line, real-time approach to flow forecasting that is inherently stochastic and so able to predict not only the likely level of future flow, but also the uncertainty associated with this prediction. In this manner, the probability of a flood occurring in the near future can be quantified and this additional information can then be used as a basis for decision-making, operational management, and risk assessment in relation to the flooding of flood-prone locations.
The methodology described in subsequent sections of the chapter can be applied to the forecasting of either river flow or level. For simplicity, however, “flow” will be used here as a generic term to mean either of these two measures. Also, “flow” will be taken to mean the total flow in the river, not just the “run-off” component of total flow. In this context, the approach to forecasting described here is model-based, i.e., depending on the nature of the catchment and the forecasting objectives, the flow forecasts are based on an appropriate combination of stochastic, dynamic models for the relationships between: (i) rainfall and flow, and (ii) flow at various locations along the river, i.e. “flow routing” models.
To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.