Improving Water Supply Outlook in Korea with Ensemble Streamflow Prediction

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to propose an alternative forecasting approach for improving the current water supply outlook in Korea. Using a rainfall-runoff model, the existing technique for the water supply outlook in Korea produces monthly low, average, and high runoff forecasts. The proposed technique is called Ensemble Streamflow Prediction (ESP), and is currently implemented by the National Weather Service in the U.S.A. ESP appears particularly valid in Korea where the historical rainfall record is much more comprehensive than the historical streamflow record. This study applies ESP to runoff forecasting for a river basin in Korea to examine its applicability. An ensemble of one-month ahead runoff forecasts at the Gongju gauging station in the Keum River basin, Korea, was generated for each month. The resulting ESP forecasts were compared with the corresponding observed runoff data as well as the existing forecasts. Although this study is limited to one case study, the following conclusions can be made: (1) the ESP technique dominates the existing forecasting techniques in terms of both systematic and random errors; and (2) ESP is more accurate when high flows occur.     

Scenario Assessment of Streamflow Simulation and its Transition Probability in Future Periods Under Climate Change

The effect of climate change on water resources is an important challenge. To analyze the negative effects of this phenomenon and recommend adaptive measures, it is necessary to assess streamflow simulation scenarios and streamflow transition probabilities in future periods. This paper employs the HadCM3 (Hadley Centre Coupled Model, version 3) model to generate climate change scenarios in future periods (2010–2039, 2040–2069, and 2070–2099) and under A2 emission scenarios. By introducing climatic variable time series in future periods to the IHACRES (Identification of unit Hydrographs And Component flows from Rainfall, Evaporation and Streamflow data) hydrological model, long-term streamflow simulation scenarios are produced. By fitting statistically different distributions on runoff produced by using goodness-of-fit tests, the most appropriate statistical distribution for each month is chosen and relevant statistical parameters are extracted and compared with statistical parameters of runoff in the base period. Results show that long-term annual runoff average in the three future periods compared to the period 2000–1971 will decrease 22, 11, and 65 %, respectively. ?Despite the reduction in total runoff volume in future periods compared to the baseline period, the decrease is related to medium and high flows. In low flows, total runoff volumes for future periods compared to the baseline period will increase 47, 41, and 14 %, respectively. To further assess the impact of annual average runoff on flows, it is necessary to examine the correlation of time series using streamflow transition probabilities. To compare the streamflow transition probability in each of the future periods with base period streamflow in each month, streamflow is discretized and performance criteria are used. Results show a low coefficient of correlation and high error indicators.     

An integrated population,economic, and water resource model to address sustainable development questions for Botswana

Abstract:

An integrated population, economic, and water resource model was developed to address sustainable development questions for Botswana. raditionally, water resources planning models have considered the implications of different assumptions of population and economic growth on the sustainability of existing water resources supply; however, this model extends that capability to consider feedbacks from one model component to another. For example, the model has the unique capability to examine implications of changing water‐related diarrhea incidence on the health of the HIV/AIDS population. Investments in water supply and sanitation or in HIV/AIDS medication impact the health and productivity of the population. The water model uses a physically‐based hydrologic rainfall‐runoff model with surface and groundwater components to produce monthly runoff and groundwater recharge at the watershed scale. Botswana is divided into socioeconomic regions, and the water resources infrastructure is characterized by virtual reservoirs in each. The demographic sub‐model is a standard multi‐cohort model that forecasts the population by age, sex, rural or urban residence, education level, and HIV/AIDS status. The economic sub‐model is a computable general equilibrium model with three components: agriculture, non‐agricultural exports, and non‐tradables. The model runs an ensemble of scenarios, including climate change, HIV/AIDS, health, economic, and water conservation scenarios, whose output is probabilistic in nature. The three model components are described, with particular emphasis on the model linkages and the water sub‐component, and results are shown for a variety of scenarios.     

Analysis of the effect of climate change on the Nakdong river stream flow using indicators of hydrological alteration

This study models the effect of climate change on runoff in southeast Korea using the TANK conceptual rainfall-runoff model. The results are assessed using the indicators of hydrological alteration (IHA) developed by U.S. Nature Conservancy. Future climate time series are obtained by scaling historical series, provided by four global climate models (GCMs, IPCC, 2007) and three greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions scenarios (IPCC, 2000), to reflect a maximum increase of 3.6 °C in the average surface air temperature and 33% in the annual precipitation. To this end, the spatio-temporal change factor method is used, which considers changes in the future mean seasonal rainfall and potential evapotranspiration as well as the daily rainfall distribution. In this study, the variance range for precipitation is from +3.55% to +33.44% compared to the present for years between 2071 and 2100. The variance range for the daily mean temperature is estimated between +1.59 °C and +3.58 °C. Although the simulation results from different GCMs and GHG emissions scenarios indicate different responses of the flows to the climate change, the majority of modeling results show that there will be more runoff in southeast Korea in the future. According to the analysis results, the predicted impacts of hydrological alteration caused by climate change on the aquatic ecosystem are as follows: 1) an increase in the availability of aquatic ecosystem habitats in Nakdong River in future summers and winters, 2) an increase in stress on the aquatic ecosystem due to extremely high stream flow, 3) an increase in the stress duration of flood events for the Nakdong River downstream and 4) an increase in aquatic ecosystem stress caused by rapid increases or decreases in stream flow.     

Optimal Hydropower Generation Under Climate Change Conditions for a Northern Water Resources System

This paper examines climate change impacts on the water resources system of the Manicouagan River (Québec, Canada). The objective is to evaluate the performance of existing infrastructures under future climate projections and the associated uncertainties. The main purpose of the water resources system is hydropower production. A reservoir optimization algorithm, Sampling Stochastic Dynamic Programming (SSDP), was used to derive weekly operating decisions for the existing system subject to reservoir inflows reflecting future climate, for optimum hydropower production. These projections are simulations from the SWAT hydrologic model for climate change scenarios for the period from 2010 to 2099. Results show that the climate change will alter the hydrological regime of the study area: earlier timing of the spring flood, reduced spring peak flow, and increased annual inflows volume in the future compared to the historical climate. The SSDP optimization algorithm adapted the operating policy to the future hydrological regime by adjusting water reservoir levels in the winter and spring, and increasing the release through turbines, which in the end increased power generation. However, there could be more unproductive spills for some power plants, which would decrease the overall efficiency of the existing water resources system.     

Basin/Reservoir System Integration for Real Time Reservoir Operation

This paper demonstrates the basin/reservoir system integration as a decision support system for short term operation policy of a multipurpose dam. It is desired to re-evaluate and improve the current operational regulation of the reservoir with respect to water supply and flood control especially for real time operation. The most innovative part of this paper is the development of a decision support system (DSS) by the integration of a hydrological (HEC-HMS) and reservoir simulation model (HEC-ResSim) to guide the professional practitioners during the real time operation of a reservoir to meet water elevation and flood protection objectives. In this context, a hybrid operating strategy to retain maximum water elevation is built by shifting between daily and hourly decisions depending on real time runoff forecasts. First, a daily hydro-meteorological rule based reservoir simulation model (HRM) is developed for both water supply and flood control risk. Then, for the possibility of a flood occurrence, hourly flood control rule based reservoir simulation model (FRM) is used. The DSS is applied on Yuvac?k Dam Basin which has a flood potential due to its steep topography, snow potential, mild and rainy climate in Turkey. Numerical weather prediction based runoff forecasts computed by a hydrological model together with developed reservoir operation policy are put into actual practice for real time operation of the reservoir for March – June, 2012. According to the evaluations, proposed DSS is found to be practical and valuable to overcome subjective decisions about reservoir storage.     

不同土地利用模式情景下贵州印江河流域生态水文响应研究

为定量分析不同土地利用模式情景对贵州印江河流域生态水文的影响,将降雨径流模型(SCS模型)和通用土壤侵蚀方程进行耦合,构建基于栅格的分布式水沙耦合模型,通过设定3种不同土地利用模式情景,定量分析不同土地利用模式情景下的生态水文响应。研究结果表明:构建的水沙耦合模型在研究流域具有较好的模拟精度,径流模拟相对误差均在10%以内,确定性系数0.7以上,泥沙负荷模拟相对误差均在20%以内,确定性系数0.5以上,模型满足水量和泥沙负荷模拟的精度要求;3种土地利用模式情景中,旱地面积增加10%,流域径流深增加11.5%,土壤侵蚀模数增加12.9%;林地和草地面积增加10%,流域径流深分别减少7.5%和6.3%,流域土壤侵蚀模数分别减少14.63%和6.78%,模型研究成果可以为贵州印江河流域生态保护提供参考价值。     

An Efficient Method to Correct Under-Dispersion in Ensemble Streamflow Prediction of Inflow Volumes for Reservoir Optimization

Ensemble streamflow prediction (ESP) has been widely used to gain insight on possible future inflows to hydropower reservoirs. However underestimation of climate, model structure and initial condition uncertainty often leads to under-dispersed ESP forecasts. In this paper, we present a novel approach called “Hindcast-mode Uncertainty Estimation” (HUE) to efficiently add variability in ESP forecasts to reduce their under-dispersion. The method was tested on a Canadian catchment used by Rio Tinto – Aluminium division to produce hydropower for their aluminium smelting plants. This project was focused on correcting long-term predictions of freshet runoff volumes to optimize drawdown volumes, with up to 6 months of lead time. It was found that by adding an error term to the hydrological model’s snow water equivalent (SWE) state variable at the time of forecast in hindcasting mode, the resulting simulation could be forced to perfectly reproduce the freshet runoff volume. This error term was computed for all years on record which enabled modeling of the error’s distribution. This distribution can then be sampled from to add noise to the model’s SWE at the start of a new ESP forecast. Results show that the current winter ESP forecasts are strongly under-dispersed for the freshet runoff volume estimation and that the proposed method is able to widen the ESPs to correct the under-dispersion problem. This was validated by using Talagrand diagrams which shifted from a U-shape (prior to HUE) to a uniform distribution (with HUE). The project objectives of correcting the ESP forecast’s under-dispersion in spring runoff estimations was thus attained with minimal effort, bypassing the need to perform more complex ensemble data assimilation techniques.     

Long-term Streamflow Forecasting Based on Ensemble Streamflow Prediction Technique: A Case Study in New Zealand

Streamflow forecasts are essential for optimal management of water resources for various demands, including irrigation, fisheries management, hydropower production and flood warning. Despite operational application of Ensemble Streamflow Prediction (ESP) for long-range streamflow forecasts in United States of America by the National Weather Service River Forecast System, no such approach has been explored in New Zealand. The objective of the present paper is to explore ESP-based forecasts in New Zealand catchments, highlighting its capability for seasonal flow forecasting. In this paper, a probabilistic forecast framework based on ESP technique is presented, with the basic assumption that future weather patterns will reflect those experienced historically. Hence, past forcing data (input to hydrological model) can be used with the current initial condition of a catchment to generate an ensemble of flow predictions. In the present study employs the ESP-based approach using the TopNet hydrological model with a range of past forcing data and current initial conditions. An ensemble stream flow predictions which provide probabilistic hydrological forecasts, reflecting the intrinsic uncertainty in climate, with lead time up to three months is presented for the Rangitata, Ahuriri, and Hooker and Jollie catchments in South Island, New Zealand. Verification of the forecast over the period 2000-2010 indicates a Ranked Probability Skill Score of 23 to 69 % (over climatology) across the four catchments. In general, improvement in ESP forecasting skill over climatology is greatest in summer for all catchments studied. The ESP based forecast exhibited higher skill for a greater percentage of the forecasting period than climatology. As a result, the ESP forecast can provide better over all information for integrated water resources management purpose. ESP-based forecasts using the TopNet hydrological model have potential as tools for water resource management in New Zealand catchments.     

Vulnerability of Korean water resources to climate change and population growth.

Freshwater availability is affected by changes in climate and growth. We assessed the freshwater vulnerability for five major Korean river basins for 2015 and 2030. We used a regional climate model based on the IPCC SRES A2 scenario, US Geological Survey's Precipitation Rainfall Simulation Model, and population and industrial growth scenarios for impact assessment. The model simulation results suggest increasing spatial and temporal variations of water stress for the basins that are already developed. While freshwater is more vulnerable to growth scenarios than the climate change scenario, climate change alone could decrease mean annual runoff by 10% in four major river basins by 2030. As the first national assessment of climate change, we suggest possible adaptive water resource management and policy strategies for reducing climate related risks in Korea.     

Streamflow Modeling in a Highly Managed Mountainous Glacier Watershed Using SWAT: The Upper Rhone River Watershed Case in Switzerland

Streamflow simulation is often challenging in mountainous watersheds because of irregular topography and complex hydrological processes. Rates of change in precipitation and temperature with respect to elevation often limit the ability to reproduce stream runoff by hydrological models. Anthropogenic influence, such as water transfers in high altitude hydropower reservoirs increases the difficulty in modeling since the natural flow regime is altered by long term storage of water in the reservoirs. The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) was used for simulating streamflow in the upper Rhone watershed located in the south western part of Switzerland. The catchment area covers 5220 km², where most of the land cover is dominated by forest and 14 % is glacier. Streamflow calibration was done at daily time steps for the period of 2001–2005, and validated for 2006–2010. Two different approaches were used for simulating snow and glacier melt process, namely the temperature index approach with and without elevation bands. The hydropower network was implemented based on the intake points that form part of the inter-reservoir network. Subbasins were grouped into two major categories with glaciers and without glaciers for simulating snow and glacier melt processes. Model performance was evaluated both visually and statistically where a good relation between observed and simulated discharge was found. Our study suggests that a proper configuration of the network leads to better model performance despite the complexity that arises for water transaction. Implementing elevation bands generates better results than without elevation bands. Results show that considering all the complexity arising from natural variability and anthropogenic influences, SWAT performs well in simulating runoff in the upper Rhone watershed. Findings from this study can be applicable for high elevation snow and glacier dominated catchments with similar hydro-physiographic constraints.     

Spatio-Temporal Variation of Water Availability in a River Basin under CORDEX Simulated Future Projections

In the present study, spatio-temporal variability of hydrological components under climate change is analysed over Wainganga River basin, India. In order to address the climate change projection, hydrological modelling is carried out using a macro scale, semi-distributed three (3)-Layer Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC-3 L) model. The high-resolution (0.5^o?×?0.5^o) meteorological variables are divided into multiple periods to calibrate and validate the VIC-3 L model. The future projections (2020–2094) of the water balance components are achieved using the high resolution hydrological variables from the COordinated Regional Downscaling EXperiment (CORDEX) dataset under Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) 4.5 and 8.5 scenarios. The uncertainty associated with the multi-model projections are evaluated using Reliability Ensemble Averaging (REA) and the bias correction is accomplished with non-parametric quantile mapping. A probabilistic based areal drought index is also computed for different scenarios using Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI). From the results, it is observed that amount of rainfall, evapotranspiration, and runoff has increased over the basin with no change in the spatial pattern. However, temporal variability is noticed with an increasing trend for rainfall and runoff in the non-monsoon season than the monsoon. Streamflow is expected to increase significantly, especially for medium to low flows (those occurring between 0.2 and 0.9 probability of exceedance in a Flow Duration Curve). In addition, the area under the drought condition has decreased under the projected climate scenarios.     

基于径流系数的城市降雨径流模型参数校准方法

为了解决我国城市降雨径流模型参数校准数据欠缺的问题,应用较易获得的径流系数作为校准目标,以峰现时间作为径流系数模拟值的计算依据,以合成单峰降雨作为校准降雨事件,在SWMM平台上进行模型参数校准.通过校准模型适用性和灵敏度分析,表明该法既可以满足模型参数预校准的要求,也可以在模型参数不确定性分析的基础上用于实践.因此,该法是改善城市降雨径流模型参数校准状况的有效途径.     

Combination of Runoff Simulation with Sediment Modeling in Rivers and Its Application in the Lower Yellow River

Abstract

Previous research on runoff show flow and sediment movement in rivers, and river bed variations are usually separated. This paper, from the point of view of the basin as a whole system, presents an integrated approach by combining runoff simulation with numerical model of sediment transport in rivers to simulate the whole processes of hydrological variables and flow-caused bed variations from the very upper part of the basin to the river mouth. To accomplish this purpose, BTOPMC, a rainfall-runoff model, and NUSTM-1D, a well-developed numerical model for sediment transport and river bed variations, are selected to form a combined model. The application of the proposed model to the lower Yellow River shows that it can properly simulate rainfall-caused runoff, the change of suspended sediment concentration along the river, and river bed variation.     

Sensitivity of Hydrological Variables in the Northeast Pond River Watershed,Newfoundland, Canada,Due to Atmospheric Change

Watershed runoff modelling techniques were developed and applied for assessing climatic impacts, and tested for a watershed in the Northeast Pond River basin using atmospheric-change scenarios from a series of hypothetical scenarios. Results of this research strongly suggest that possible changes in temperature and precipitation caused by increases in atmospheric trace-gas concentrations could have major impacts on both the timing and magnitude of runoff and soil moisture in important natural resources areas. Of particular importance are predicted patterns of summer soil-moisture drying that are consistent across the entire range of tested scenarios. The decreases in summer soil moisture range from 10 to 50% for different scenarios. In addition, consistent changes were observed in the timing of runoff – specifically dramatic increases in winter runoff and decreases in summer runoff. These hydrologic results raise the possibility of major environmental and socio-economic difficulties and they will have significant implications for future water-resource planning and management.     

基于SWAT模型的秦淮河流域气候变化水文响应研究

为了解气候变化对水文水资源的影响机理,以秦淮河流域为研究区构建SWAT模型,使用SWAT-CUP对模型进行参数敏感性分析、率定及验证,并采用任意假设法设计未来气候情景,分析温度及降雨变化对流域径流及实际蒸散发量的影响。结果表明:模型在月径流模拟中具有较高的精度,适用于秦淮河流域气候变化下的水文响应研究;气温降低或降雨量上升都会引起流域径流量增加,反之则减少;实际蒸散发量与降雨量正相关,而实际蒸散发量对气温变化的响应不明显;平水年径流量对降雨量变化的响应较强,枯水年径流量对温度变化的响应较强;枯水年实际蒸散发量对降雨量变化的响应较强。     

降水径流特征变化对月水量平衡模型模拟精度及参数的影响

为评估水文模型在变化环境下的可靠性,以两参数月水量平衡模型为例,采用Mann-Kendall法分析降水径流资料在MOPEX数据集中美国本土的104个典型流域的一致性,基于可变模糊理论评价降水径流资料一致性对两参数月水量平衡模型模拟精度的影响,并探讨降水径流资料一致性和流域的气候特征对模型参数的影响。结果表明:研究流域中,92.31%流域的降水或径流资料的一致性遭到破坏;通过可变模糊集评价模型模拟效果,发现降水、径流趋势变化均会削弱水文模型的模拟能力,其中降水一致性破坏是水文模型模拟能力减弱的主要原因,并且该方法能够准确地识别影响模拟能力的次要因素;模型参数C和参数SC均随着流域多年平均径流系数增大而增大,参数C反映了流域的湿润程度,参数SC表征了流域的调蓄能力。研究成果可为防洪、抗旱、水资源规划和管理提供技术支撑。     

不同气候情景下土地利用变化对径流 系数影响研究

本文研究了3种气候情景下流域土地利用变化对径流系数的影响;即应用SWAT ( Soil and Water Assessment Tool)模型分别对1980年、1995年和2000年的土地利用建模,然后进行了 3种气候条件和3种土地利用9种组合情景的径流模拟分析,并对相应径流系数的变化进行了对比。结果表明:土地利用变化对流域产汇流有一定的影响,且降水条件不同,土地利用对径流量和径流系数的影响亦不同,其中在比较干旱和接近正常降水条件下,径流量和径流系数对林地的减少比较敏感。     

基于SWAT模型的浏阳河流域径流对土地利用和气候变化的协同响应

气候和土地利用同时作用于流域径流,影响着流域水资源的量和质。以浏阳河流域为例,基于SWAT模型和情景分析方法定量评估未来流域内土地利用和气候变化对径流的作用。首先采用元胞自动机-马尔科夫(CA-Markov)模型模拟浏阳河流域2020和2050年的土地利用空间格局,其次在World Clim数据库中获得未来流域内气候变化数据,最后采用SWAT模型定量评估未来不同情境下土地利用和气候变化对径流的影响。研究结果表明:未来浏阳河流域林地比例下降、城市建设用地和耕地比例增加;气候呈暖干趋势; 2020和2050年,土地利用变化时,浏阳河榔梨站模拟径流将分别减少2. 42和0. 96 m~3/s;气候变化时,榔梨站模拟径流将分别减少3. 02和1. 13 m~3;土地利用和气候变化综合影响下,榔梨站模拟径流将分别减少8. 54和4. 27 m~3/s;说明浏阳河流域径流的变化对气候响应更加敏感,土地利用和气候变化对径流的影响呈非线性协同作用。     

若尔盖湿地流域径流变化及其对气候变化的响应

为探索未来气候变化情景下若尔盖高寒湿地水文过程和水循环演变规律,利用分布式水文模型,研究2020—2050年不同气候变化情景下若尔盖湿地流域径流变化趋势以及气候变化对湿地径流的影响。结果表明:在未来气候变化情景下,若尔盖湿地流域径流呈减少趋势,玛曲站径流减少比率最大,其次为若尔盖站,最后为唐克站;非汛期径流量减少幅度明显高于汛期,若尔盖湿地2020—2050年非汛期径流在未来气候变化情景下径流减少比率大部分在25%以上。非汛期径流的锐减可能会进一步加剧若尔盖湿地的退化和萎缩,导致黄河中下游区域的可利用水资源量减少。