Influence of Time Discretization and Input Parameter on the ANN Based Synthetic Streamflow Generation

The capability of ANN to generate synthetic series of river discharge averaged over different time steps with limited data has been investigated in the present study. While an ANN model with certain input parameters can generate a monthly averaged streamflow series efficiently; it fails to generate a series of smaller time steps with the same accuracy. The scope of improving efficiency of ANN in generating synthetic streamflow by using different combinations of input data has been analyzed. The developed models have been assessed through their application in the river Subansiri in India. Efficiency of the ANN models has been evaluated by comparing ANN generated series with the historical series and the series generated by Thomas-Fiering model on the basis of three statistical parameters-periodical mean, periodical standard deviation and skewness of the series. The results reveal that the periodical mean of the series generated by both Thomas–Fiering and ANN models are in good agreement with that of the historical series. However, periodical standard deviation and skewness coefficient of the series generated by Thomas–Fiering model is inferior to that of the series generated by ANN.