Hydrological Models as Web Services: An Implementation using OGC Standards

<p>Presentation for the HIC 2012 - 10th International Conference on Hydroinformatics. "Understanding Changing Climate and Environment and Finding Solutions" Hamburg, Germany July 14-18, 2012</p> <p> </p

Data Mining of Hydrological Model Performance

Multi-objective criteria have long been used to infer hydrological simulations and fit the natural world. On the other hand, modelling frameworks are also becoming more and more popular as identification of the processes occurring in a catchment is still a very uncertain matter. In theory, multi-objective criteria and multi-model frameworks should be used in combination so that the ’representation’ of the catchment is fitted to the observations, not only the simulated results. In practise those approaches are highly computationally demanding. The modeller is often obliged to find a compromise reducing either the number of objective functions or model structures taken into consideration. This compromise is becoming obsolete using parallel computing. In the present study we investigate the extend to which model selection algorithms and regionalisation techniques can be improved by such facilities and highlight the challenges that still need to be addressed. The model simulations are obtained using an ensemble of conceptual lumped models (FUSE by Clark et al. 2008), but techniques and suggestions are of general use and applicable to any modelling frameworks. In particular we developed a novel model selection algorithm tuned to drastically reduce the subjectivity in the analysis. The procedure was automated and coupled with redundancy reduction techniques such as PCA and Cluster Analysis. Results show that the actual model ’representation’ has the shape of a set of complementing model structures. It is also possible to capture intra-annum dynamics of the response as the algorithm recognises subtle variations in the selected model structures in different seasons. Similar variations can be found analysing different catchments. This suggests the same methodology would be suitable for analysing spatial patterns in the distribution of suitable model structures and maybe long term dynamics in relation with expedited climate modifications. Although the mentioned methodology has proven to be successful with regards to the case study, some limitations are worth noting. If this is going to be applied to the more general case of ’models of everywhere’, for instance, there could be dominant processes not described in the FUSE framework. Further studies could therefore extend the current framework to include routines able to simulate missing processes

Hydrological modelling in a "big data" era: a proof of concept of hydrological models as web services

Dealing with the massive increase in global data availability of all sorts is increasingly being known as big data science. Indeed, largely leveraged by the internet, a new resource of data sets emerges that are so large and heterogeneous that they become awkward to work with. New algorithms, methods and models are needed to filter such data to find trends, test hypotheses, make predictions and quantify uncertainties. As a considerable share of the data relate to environmental processes (e.g., satellite images, distributed sensor networks), this evolution provides exciting challenges for environmental sciences, and hydrology in particular. Web-enabled models are a promising approach to process large and distributed data sets, and to provide tailored products for a variety of end-users. It will also allow hydrological models to be used as building blocks in larger earth system simulation systems. However, in order to do so we need to reconsider the ways that hydrological models are built, results are made available, and uncertainties are quantified. We present the results of an experimental proof of concept of a hydrological modelling web-service to process heterogeneous hydrological data sets. The hydrological model itself consists of a set of conceptual model routines implemented with on a common platform. This framework is linked to global and local data sets through web standards provided by the Open Geospatial Consortium, as well as to a web interface that enables an end-user to request stream flow simulations from a self-defined location. In essence, the proof-of-concept can be seen as an implementation of the Models of Everywhere concept introduced by Beven in 2007. Although the setup is operational and effectively simulates stream flow, we identify several bottlenecks for optimal hydrological simulation in a web-context. The major challenges we identify are related to (1) model selection; (2) uncertainty quantification, and (3) user interaction and scenario analysis. Model selection is inherent to hydrological modelling, because of the large spatial and temporal variability of processes, which inhibits the use of one optimal model structure. However, in a web context it becomes paramount that such selection is automatic, yet objective and transparent. Similarly, uncertainty quantification is a mainstream practice in hydrological modelling, but in a web-context uncertainty analysis face unprecedented challenges in terms of tracking uncertainties throughout a possibly geographically distributed workflow, as well as dealing with an extreme heterogeneity of data availability. Lastly, the ability of end-users to interact directly with hydrological models poses specific challenges in terms of mapping user scenarios (e.g., a scenario of land-use change) into the model parameter space for prediction and uncertainty quantification. The setup has been used in several scientific experiments, including the large-scale UK consortium project on an Environmental Virtual Observatory pilot

On the Mathematical and Geometrical Structure of the Determining Equations for Shear Waves in Nonlinear Isotropic Incompressible Elastodynamics

Using the theory of $1+1$ hyperbolic systems we put in perspective the mathematical and geometrical structure of the celebrated circularly polarized waves solutions for isotropic hyperelastic materials determined by Carroll in Acta Mechanica 3 (1967) 167--181. We show that a natural generalization of this class of solutions yields an infinite family of \emph{linear} solutions for the equations of isotropic elastodynamics. Moreover, we determine a huge class of hyperbolic partial differential equations having the same property of the shear wave system. Restricting the attention to the usual first order asymptotic approximation of the equations determining transverse waves we provide the complete integration of this system using generalized symmetries.Comment: 19 page