Skip to main content
Log in

Performance Assessment of the Linear, Nonlinear and Nonparametric Data Driven Models in River Flow Forecasting

  • Published:
Water Resources Management Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In recent years, the data-driven modeling techniques have gained more attention in hydrology and water resources studies. River runoff estimation and forecasting are one of the research fields that these techniques have several applications in them. In the current study, four common data-driven modeling techniques including multiple linear regression, K-nearest neighbors, artificial neural networks and adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference systems have been used to form runoff forecasting models and then their results have been evaluated. Also, effects of using of some different scenarios for selecting predictor variables have been studied. It is evident from the results that using flow data of one or two month ago in the predictor variables dataset can improve accuracy of results. In addition, comparison of general performances of the modeling techniques shows superiority of results of KNN models among the studied models. Among selected models of the different techniques, the selected KNN model presented best performance with a linear correlation coefficient equal to 0.84 between observed flow data and predicted values and a RMSE equal to 2.64.

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
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Abrahart RJ (2003) Neural network rainfall-runoff forecasting based on continuous resampling. J Hydroinf 5(1):51–61

    Google Scholar 

  • Abrahart RJ, See L (2000) Comparing neural network and autoregressive moving average techniques for the provision of continuous river flow forecasts in two contrasting catchments. Hydrol Process 14:2157–2172

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Aqil M, Kita I, Yano A, Nishiyama S (2007) A comparative study of artificial neural networks and neuro-fuzzy in continuous modeling of the daily and hourly behaviour of runoff. J Hydrol 337:22–34

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bozorg-Haddad O, Zarezadeh-Mehrizi M, Abdi-Dehkordi M, Loaiciga HA, Marini MA (2016) A self-tuning ANN model for simulation and forecasting of surface flows. Water Resour Manag 30(9):2907–2929

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brath A, Montanari A, Toth E (2002) Neural networks and non-parametric methods for improving realtime flood forecasting through conceptual hydrological models. Hydrol Earth Syst Sci 6(4):627–640

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chandwani V, Vyas SK, Agrawal V, Sharma G (2015) Soft computing approach for rainfall-runoff modelling: A review. Aquatic Procedia, 4, International Conference on Water Resources, Coastal and Ocean Engineering (ICWRCOE 2015), p 1054–1061

  • Chen SH, Lin YH, Chang LC, Chang FJ (2006) The strategy of building a flood forecast model by neuro-fuzzy network. Hydrol Process 20:1525–1540

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Elshorbagy A, Corzo G, Srinivasulu S, Solomatine DP (2010a) Experimental investigation of the predictive capabilities of data driven modeling techniques in hydrology - Part 1: Concepts and methodology. Hydrol Earth Syst Sci 14:1931–1941

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Elshorbagy A, Corzo G, Srinivasulu S, Solomatine DP (2010b) Experimental investigation of the predictive capabilities of data driven modeling techniques in hydrology - Part 2: Application. Hydrol Earth Syst Sci 14:1943–1961

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ghose DK, Panda SS, Swain PC (2013) Prediction and optimization of runoff via ANFIS and GA. Alex Eng J 59:209–220

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Haykin S (2009) Neural Networks: A Comprehensive Foundation, 3rd edn. Prentice Hall, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Huang W, Xu B, Chan-Hilton A (2004) Forecasting flows in Apalachicola River using neural networks. Hydrol Process 18:2545–2564

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jang JSR (1993) ANFIS: Adaptive-Network-Based Fuzzy Inference System. IEEE Trans Syst Man Cybern 23(3):665–685

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jeong DI, Kim YO (2005) Rainfall-runoff models using artificial neural networks for ensemble streamflow prediction. Hydrol Process 19:3819–3835

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jiang Z, Wang HY, Song WW (2013) Discharge estimation based on machine learning. Water Sci Eng 6(2):145–152

    Google Scholar 

  • Karlsson M, Yakowitz S (1987) Nearest-neighbor methods for nonparametric rainfall-runoff forecasting. Water Resour Res 23(7):1300–1308

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kumar P, Alameda JC, Bajcsy P, Folk M, Markus M (2006) Hydroinformatics: data integrative approaches in computation, analysis, and modeling. CRC Press

  • Lall U, Sharma A (1996) A nearest neighbor bootstrap for resampling hydrologic time series. Water Resour Res 32(3):679–693

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lee T, Ouarda TBMJ (2010) Long-term prediction of precipitation and hydrologic extremes with nonstationary oscillation processes. J Geophys Res 115:D13107

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lee T, Ouarda TBMJ (2011) Identification of model order and number of neighbors for k-nearest neighbor resampling. J Hydrol 404:136–145

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mehrotra R, Sharma A (2006) Conditional resampling of hydrologic time series using multiple predictor variables: A K-nearest neighbour approach. Adv Water Resour 29:987–999

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Minns AW, Hall MJ (1996) Artificial neural networks as rainfall-runoff models. Hydrol Sci J 41(3):399–417

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mukerji A, Chatterjee C, Raghuwanshi NS (2009) Flood forecasting using ANN, Neuro-Fuzzy, and Neuro-GA models. J Hydrol Eng 14:647–652

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nourani V, Hosseini Baghanam A, Adamowski J, Gebremichael M (2013) Using self-organizing maps and wavelet transforms for space-time pre-processing of satellite precipitation and runoff data in neural network based rainfall-runoff modeling. J Hydrol 476:228–243

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Parasuraman K, Elshorbagy A (2007) Cluster-based hydrologic prediction using genetic algorithm-trained neural networks. J Hydrol Eng 12:52–62

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Piotrowski AP, Napiorkowski JJ (2011) Optimizing neural networks for river flow forecasting – Evolutionary Computation methods versus the Levenberg-Marquardt approach. J Hydrol 407:12–27

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Prairie JR, Rajagopalan B, Fulp TJ, Zagona EA (2006) Modified K-NN model for stochastic streamflow simulation. J Hydrol Eng 11:371–378

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pramanik A, Panda RK (2009) Application of neural network and adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference systems for river flow prediction. Hydrol Sci J 54(2):247–260

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Salas JD, Lee T (2010) Nonparametric simulation of single-site seasonal streamflows. J Hydrol Eng 15:284–296

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sharifazari S, Araghinejad S (2015) Development of a nonparametric model for multivariate hydrological monthly series simulation considering climate change impacts. Water Resour Manag 29(14):5309–5322

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Silva-Ramírez EL, Pino-Mejías R, López-Coello M (2015) Single imputation with multilayer perceptron and multiple imputation combining multilayer perceptron and k-nearest neighbours for monotone patterns. Appl Soft Comput 29:65–74

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Solomatine DP, Maskey M, Shrestha DL (2008) Instance-based learning compared to other data-driven methods in hydrological forecasting. Hydrol Process 22:257–287

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Solomatine DP, Ostfeld A (2008) Data-driven modelling: some past experiences and new approaches. J Hydroinf 10(1):3–22

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Takagi T, Sugeno M (1985) Fuzzy identification of systems and its applications to modeling and control. IEEE Trans Syst Man Cybern 1:116–132

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Talei A, Chua LHC (2012) Influence of lag time on event-based rainfall-runoff modeling using the data driven approach. J Hydrol 438-439:223–233

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Talei A, Chua LHC, Quek C, Jansson PE (2013) Runoff forecasting using a Takagi-Sugeno neuro-fuzzy model with online learning. J Hydrol 488:17–32

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Talei A, Chua LHC, Wong TSW (2010) Evaluation of rainfall and discharge inputs used by Adaptive Network-based Fuzzy Inference Systems (ANFIS) in rainfall–runoff modeling. J Hydrol 391:248–262

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zadeh LA (1965) Fuzzy sets. Inf Control 8:338–353

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mojtaba Shourian.

Ethics declarations

Funding and Conflict of Interest

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors. Also, the authors declare that they do not have any conflict of interest.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Ahani, A., Shourian, M. & Rahimi Rad, P. Performance Assessment of the Linear, Nonlinear and Nonparametric Data Driven Models in River Flow Forecasting. Water Resour Manage 32, 383–399 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-017-1792-5

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-017-1792-5

Keywords

Navigation