To improve model soil moisture estimation in arid/semi-arid region using in situ and remote sensing information

Soil moisture plays a key role in water and energy exchange in the land hydrologic process. Effective soil moisture information can be used for many applications in weather and hydrological forecasting, water resources, and irrigation system management and planning. However, to accurate modeling of soil moisture variation in the soil layer is still very challenging. In this study, in situ and remote sensing information of near-surface soil moisture is assimilated into the Noah land surface model (LSM) to estimate deep-layer soil moisture variation. The sequential Monte Carlo-Particle Filter technique, being well known for capability of modeling high nonlinear and non-Gaussian processes, is applied to assimilate surface soil moisture measurement to the deep layers. The experiments were carried out over several locations over the semi-arid region of the US. Comparing with in situ observations, the assimilation runs show much improved from the control (non-assimilation) runs for estimating both soil moisture and temperature at 5-, 20-, and 50-cm soil depths in the Noah LSM. © 2012 Springer-Verlag

Bias adjustment of satellite-based precipitation estimation using artificial neural networks-cloud classification system over Saudi Arabia

Precipitation is a key input variable for hydrological and climate studies. Rain gauges can provide reliable precipitation measurements at a point of observations. However, the uncertainty of rain measurements increases when a rain gauge network is sparse. Satellite-based precipitation estimations SPEs appear to be an alternative source of measurements for regions with limited rain gauges. However, the systematic bias from satellite precipitation estimation should be estimated and adjusted. In this study, a method of removing the bias from the precipitation estimation from remotely sensed information using artificial neural networks-cloud classification system (PERSIANN-CCS) over a region where the rain gauge is sparse is investigated. The method consists of monthly empirical quantile mapping of gauge and satellite measurements over several climate zones as well as inverse-weighted distance for the interpolation of gauge measurements. Seven years (2010–2016) of daily precipitation estimation from PERSIANN-CCS was used to test and adjust the bias of estimation over Saudi Arabia. The first 6 years (2010–2015) are used for calibration, while 1 year (2016) is used for validation. The results show that the mean yearly bias is reduced by 90%, and the yearly root mean square error is reduced by 68% during the validation year. The experimental results confirm that the proposed method can effectively adjust the bias of satellite-based precipitation estimations

Toward improved hydrologic prediction with reduced uncertainty using sequential multi-model combination

The contemporary usage of hydrologic models has been to rely on a single model to perform the simulation and predictions. Despite the tremendous progress, efforts and investment put into developing more hydrologic models, there is no convincing claim that any particular model in existence is superior to other models for various applications and under all circumstances. This results to reducing the size of the plausible model space and often leads to predictions that may well-represent some phenomena or events at the expenses of others. Assessment of predictive uncertainty based on a single model is subject to statistical bias and most likely underestimation of uncertainty. This endorses the implementation of multi-model methods for more accurate estimation of uncertainty in hydrologic prediction. In this study, we present two methods for the combination of multiple model predictors using Bayesian Model Averaging (BMA) and Sequential Bayesian Model Combination (SBMC). Both methods are statistical schemes to infer a combined probabilistic prediction that possess more reliability and skill than the original model members produced by several competing models. This paper discusses the features of both methods and explains how the limitation of BMA can be overcome by SBMC. Three hydrologic models are considered and it is shown that multi-model combination can result in higher prediction accuracy than individual models. © 2008 ASCE

Rainfall frequency analysis for ungauged sites using satellite precipitation products

The occurrence of extreme rainfall events and their impacts on hydrologic systems and society are critical considerations in the design and management of a large number of water resources projects. As precipitation records are often limited or unavailable at many sites, it is essential to develop better methods for regional estimation of extreme rainfall at these partially-gauged or ungauged sites. In this study, an innovative method for regional rainfall frequency analysis for ungauged sites is presented. The new method (hereafter, this is called the RRFA-S) is based on corrected annual maximum series obtained from a satellite precipitation product (e.g., PERSIANN-CDR). The probability matching method (PMM) is used here for bias correction to match the CDF of satellite-based precipitation data with the gauged data. The RRFA-S method was assessed through a comparative study with the traditional index flood method using the available annual maximum series of daily rainfall in two different regions in USA (11 sites in Colorado and 18 sites in California). The leave-one-out cross-validation technique was used to represent the ungauged site condition. Results of this numerical application have found that the quantile estimates obtained from the new approach are more accurate and more robust than those given by the traditional index flood method

Quantum Yang-Mills gravity in flat space-time and effective curved space-time for motions of classical objects

Yang-Mills gravity with translational gauge group T(4) in flat space-time implies a simple self-coupling of gravitons and a truly conserved energy-momentum tensor. Its consistency with experiments crucially depends on an interesting property that an `effective Riemannian metric tensor' emerges in and only in the geometric-optics limit of the photon and particle wave equations. We obtain Feynman rules for a coupled graviton-fermion system, including a general graviton propagator with two gauge parameters and the interaction of ghost particles. The equation of motion of macroscopic objects, as an N-body system, is demonstrated as the geometric-optics limit of the fermion wave equation. We discuss a relativistic Hamilton-Jacobi equation with an `effective Riemann metric tensor' for the classical particles.Comment: 20 pages, to be published in "The European Physical Journal - Plus"(2011). The final publication is available at http://www.epj.or

Investigating the impact of remotely sensed precipitation and hydrologic model uncertainties on the ensemble streamflow forecasting

In the past few years sequential data assimilation (SDA) methods have emerged as the best possible method at hand to properly treat all sources of error in hydrological modeling. However, very few studies have actually implemented SDA methods using realistic input error models for precipitation. In this study we use particle filtering as a SDA method to propagate input errors through a conceptual hydrologic model and quantify the state, parameter and streamflow uncertainties. Recent progress in satellite-based precipitation observation techniques offers an attractive option for considering spatiotemporal variation of precipitation. Therefore, we use the PERSIANN-CCS precipitation product to propagate input errors through our hydrologic model. Some uncertainty scenarios are set up to incorporate and investigate the impact of the individual uncertainty sources from precipitation, parameters and also combined error sources on the hydrologic response. Also probabilistic measure are used to quantify the quality of ensemble prediction. Copyright 2006 by the American Geophysical Union

High power (60mW) single frequency erbium:ytterbium codoped fiber laser

The characteristics of a high power Er3+:Yb3+ single frequency fiber laser pumped at 980nm are reported. The device gives 60mW output power with RIN 10MHz and linewidth 500kHz. At low output powers (< 30mW) the slope efficiency is as high as 25%, falling to 12% at higher powers, the saturation behaviour is related to a bottleneck effect due to the finite Yb-Er transfer rate. Improved performance can be obtained using new fibers with an increased rare-earth concentration which show negligible signs of erbium clustering