Skip to main content
Log in

Rough set method to identify key factors affecting precipitation in Lhasa

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Stochastic Environmental Research and Risk Assessment Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Hydrological information is a digital description for hydrological processes, which reflects the interaction among different elements for the surface system on earth. Conventional hydrological information processing methods to deal with such kind of uncertainty with mathematical assumptions does not tally with objective facts. Rough set theory is an effective mathematical tool treating imprecise, uncertain and incomplete data. It is based on the classification mechanism and assumes that classification is an equivalence relation in specific space while no external parameters are needed. By analyzing 13 factors that may affect precipitation at Lhasa station from 1972 to 1995, eight key factors affecting precipitation are identified and 58 decision rules are generated in this study. Data from 1996 to 2001 are used to evaluate performance of rough set model and the result shows that 83% of the test sets can be classified correctly and thus the rough set model can effectively address uncertainty of various factors affecting precipitation.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Barbagallo S, Consoli S, Pappalardo N, Greco S, Zimbone SM (2006) Discovering reservoir operating rules by a rough set approach. Water Resources Management 20(1):19–36

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bodri L (1995) Short-term climate variability and its stochastic modeling. Theoretical and applied climatology 51(1–2):51–58

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bodri L, Cermák V (2000) Prediction of extreme precipitation using a neural network: application to summer flood occurrence in Moravia. Adv Eng Softw 31(5):311–321

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clarke RT (1980) Bivariate Gamma distribution for existing annual streamflow records from precipitation: some large-sample results. Water Resour Res 16(5):863–870

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Golding BW (2000) Quantitative precipitation forecasting in the UK. J Hydrol 239(1–4):286–305

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grzymala-Busse JW (1988) Knowledge acquisition under uncertainty-A rough set approach. Journal of Intelligent and Robotic Systems 1(1):3–16

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Habets F, LeMoigne P, Noilhan J (2004) On the utility of operational precipitation forecasts to served as input for streamflow forecasting. J Hydrol 293(1–4):270–288

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Johnson DS (1974) Approximation algorithms for combinatorial problems. J Comput Syst Sci 9:256–278

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leung Y, Wu WZ, Zhang WX (2006) Knowledge acquisition in incomplete information systems: A rough set approach. Eur J Oper Res 168(1):164–180

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li LF, Wang JF, Cao ZD (2008) An information-fusion method to identify pattern of spatial heterogeneity for improving the accuracy of estimation. Journal of Stochastic Environmental Research and Risk Assessment 22(6):689–704

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu GJ, Zhu Y (2006) Credit assessment of contractors: a rough set method. Tsinghua Science & Technology 11(3):357–362

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Øhrn A (1999) Discernibility and rough sets in medicine: tools and applications, PhD thesis, Department of Computer and Information Science, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway. NTNU report

  • Øhrn A (2000) ROSETTA Technical Reference Manual, Knowledge Systems Group, Department of Computer and Information Science, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway

  • Pawlak Z (1982) Rough set. Int J Comput Inform Sci 11(5):341–356

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pawlak Z, Grzymala-Busse J, Slowinski R, Ziarko W (1995) Rough sets. Commun ACM 38(11):88–95

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shreedhar M, Vincent G, Roland KPr (2004) Treatment of precipitation uncertainty in rainfall-runoff modelling: A fuzzy set approach. Adv Water Resour 27(9):889–898

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wagener T, Hoshin VG (2005) Model identification for hydrological forecasting under uncertainty. Stochastic Environ Res Risk Assessment 19(6):378–387

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang X, Yang J, Jensen R, Liu X (2006) Rough set feature selection and rule induction for prediction of malignancy degree in brain glioma. Comput Methods Programs Biomed 83(2):147–156

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Witlox F, Tindemans H (2004) The application of rough sets analysis in activity-based modeling: opportunities and constraints. Expert Systems Appl 27(4):585–592

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This study is financed by the “Jingshi Scholar” Leading Professor Program in Beijing Normal University, P. R. China. Valuable comments and suggestions on the manuscript from anonymous reviewers and editors are also greatly appreciated.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Zongxue Xu.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Zhang, Z., Xu, Z. Rough set method to identify key factors affecting precipitation in Lhasa. Stoch Environ Res Risk Assess 23, 1181–1186 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00477-008-0291-x

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00477-008-0291-x

Keywords

Navigation