A Wavelet-ANFIS Hybrid Model for Groundwater Level Forecasting for Different Prediction Periods

Artificial neural network (ANN) and Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS) have an extensive range of applications in water resources management. Wavelet transformation as a preprocessing approach can improve the ability of a forecasting model by capturing useful information on various resolution levels. The objective of this research is to compare several data-driven models for forecasting groundwater level for different prediction periods. In this study, a number of model structures for Artificial Neural Network (ANN), Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS), Wavelet-ANN and Wavelet-ANFIS models have been compared to evaluate their performances to forecast groundwater level with 1, 2, 3 and 4 months ahead under two case studies in two sub-basins. It was demonstrated that wavelet transform can improve accuracy of groundwater level forecasting. It has been also shown that the forecasts made by Wavelet-ANFIS models are more accurate than those by ANN, ANFIS and Wavelet-ANN models. This study confirms that the optimum number of neurons in the hidden layer cannot be always determined by using a specific formula but trial-and-error method. The decomposition level in wavelet transform should be determined according to the periodicity and seasonality of data series. The prediction of these models is more accurate for 1 and 2 months ahead (for example RMSE?=?0.12, E?=?0.93 and R ²?=?0.99 for wavelet-ANFIS model for 1 month ahead) than for 3 and 4 months ahead (for example RMSE?=?2.07, E?=?0.63 and R ²?=?0.91 for wavelet-ANFIS model for 4 months ahead).     

Regional Analysis of Flow Duration Curves through Support Vector Regression

A flow-duration curve (FDC) shows the relationship between magnitude and frequency of daily streamflows over a specific time period. Artificial intelligence methods e.g. Support Vector Machines for Regression (SVR) and Artificial Neural Network (ANN) are useful techniques in the prediction of FDCs in ungagged basins. Regional analysis of FDCs were performed through SVR, ANN and Nonlinear Regression (NLR) using streamflow with durations of 0.02, 0.10, 0.20, 0.50 and 0.90% as dependent variables and six watershed characteristics chosen as effective independent variables on 33 selected watersheds in the Namak-Lake basin located in central zone of Iran. The results shows that the most important watershed characteristics are weighted average height, area, rangeland area, drainage density, permeable formation, and average stream slope. SVR has higher accuracy with relative root mean squared error (RMSE_r) of 9.37 to 1.45 and Nash-Sutcliff criterion (NSE) of 0.54 to 0.91 than ANN with RMSE_r with 9.42 to 3.79 and NSE of 0.39 to 0.86 and NLR with RMSE_r with 18.04 to 3.38 and NSE of 0.53 to 0.79. In general, SVR is proposed to be used to estimate FDCs.

     

Novel Bayesian Additive Regression Tree Methodology for Flood Susceptibility Modeling

Water Resources Management - Identifying areas prone to flooding is a key step in flood risk management. The purpose of this study is to develop and present a novel flood susceptibility model based...     

Application of Several Data-Driven Techniques for Predicting Groundwater Level

In this study, several data-driven techniques including system identification, time series, and adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) models were applied to predict groundwater level for different forecasting period. The results showed that ANFIS models out-perform both time series and system identification models. ANFIS model in which preprocessed data using fuzzy interface system is used as input for artificial neural network (ANN) can cope with non-linear nature of time series so it can perform better than others. It was also demonstrated that all above mentioned approaches could model groundwater level for 1 and 2 months ahead appropriately but for 3 months ahead the performance of the models was not satisfactory.     

Comparative prioritization of sub-watersheds based on Flood Generation potential using physical,hydrological and co-managerial approaches

Water Resources Management - One of the important tools for watershed management and optimal decision making is the prioritization of sub-watersheds which can be effective in soil and water...