A method for uncertainty constraint of catchment discharge and phosphorus load estimates

Hollaway, Michael J., Beven, Keith J., Benskin, Clare Mc W. H., Collins, Adrian L., Evans, Robert, Falloon, Peter D., Forber, Kirsty J., Hiscock, Kevin M. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4505-1496, Kahana, Ron, Macleod, Christopher J. A., Ockenden, Mary C., Villamizar, Martha L., Wearing, Catherine, Withers, Paul J. A., Zhou, Jian G., Barber, Nicholas J. and Haygarth, Philip M. (2018) A method for uncertainty constraint of catchment discharge and phosphorus load estimates. Hydrological Processes, 32 (17). pp. 2779-2787. ISSN 0885-6087

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Abstract

River discharge and nutrient measurements are subject to aleatory and epistemic uncertainties. In this study, we present a novel method for estimating these uncertainties in colocated discharge and phosphorus (P) measurements. The “voting point”‐based method constrains the derived stage‐discharge rating curve both on the fit to available gaugings and to the catchment water balance. This helps reduce the uncertainty beyond the range of available gaugings and during out of bank situations. In the example presented here, for the top 5% of flows, uncertainties are shown to be 139% using a traditional power law fit, compared with 40% when using our updated “voting point” method. Furthermore, the method is extended to in situ and lab analysed nutrient concentration data pairings, with lower uncertainties (81%) shown for high concentrations (top 5%) than when a traditional regression is applied (102%). Overall, for both discharge and nutrient data, the method presented goes some way to accounting for epistemic uncertainties associated with nonstationary physical characteristics of the monitoring site.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: discharge,epistemic and aleatory uncertainty,nutrient load,rating curve,voting point
Faculty \ School: Faculty of Science > School of Environmental Sciences
UEA Research Groups: Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Centres > Water Security Research Centre
Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Geosciences
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Depositing User: LivePure Connector
Date Deposited: 17 Aug 2018 14:30
Last Modified: 22 Oct 2022 04:04
URI: https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/68083
DOI: 10.1002/hyp.v32.17

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