Accuracy of Hourly Water Temperatures in Rivers Calculated from Air Temperatures
Water temperature is a critical variable for water quality control and management. The primary objective of this paper was to develop and compare simple methods to estimate hourly water temperatures in rivers. The wave function (WF) model, originally used to calculate hourly air temperature, was mod...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2015-03-01
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| Series: | Water |
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| Online Access: | http://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/7/3/1068 |
| _version_ | 1811231626737221632 |
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| author | Gang Chen Xing Fang |
| author_facet | Gang Chen Xing Fang |
| author_sort | Gang Chen |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Water temperature is a critical variable for water quality control and management. The primary objective of this paper was to develop and compare simple methods to estimate hourly water temperatures in rivers. The wave function (WF) model, originally used to calculate hourly air temperature, was modified and applied to eight Alabama rivers. The results show significant improvement by using the modified WF model instead of direct linear and non-linear (polynomial and logistic) regression models with time lags (4–5 h). The average Nash–Sutcliffe coefficient (NS) used to evaluate model accuracy for the eight rivers improved from 0.71 for the linear model to 0.89 for the modified WF model with NS for most rivers exceeding 0.90. A lumped modified WF model was also developed by combining water temperature data for all eight rivers and can be applied for rivers in Alabama when no observed water temperatures are available to develop a site-specific WF model. The procedure to develop a modified WF model can be applied to other regions. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-12T10:48:15Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-ae78f990ad0849b7af1be76219bd959c |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2073-4441 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-12T10:48:15Z |
| publishDate | 2015-03-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Water |
| spelling | doaj.art-ae78f990ad0849b7af1be76219bd959c2022-12-22T03:36:21ZengMDPI AGWater2073-44412015-03-01731068108710.3390/w7031068w7031068Accuracy of Hourly Water Temperatures in Rivers Calculated from Air TemperaturesGang Chen0Xing Fang1Department of Civil Engineering, Auburn University, Auburn, AL 36849-5337, USADepartment of Civil Engineering, Auburn University, Auburn, AL 36849-5337, USAWater temperature is a critical variable for water quality control and management. The primary objective of this paper was to develop and compare simple methods to estimate hourly water temperatures in rivers. The wave function (WF) model, originally used to calculate hourly air temperature, was modified and applied to eight Alabama rivers. The results show significant improvement by using the modified WF model instead of direct linear and non-linear (polynomial and logistic) regression models with time lags (4–5 h). The average Nash–Sutcliffe coefficient (NS) used to evaluate model accuracy for the eight rivers improved from 0.71 for the linear model to 0.89 for the modified WF model with NS for most rivers exceeding 0.90. A lumped modified WF model was also developed by combining water temperature data for all eight rivers and can be applied for rivers in Alabama when no observed water temperatures are available to develop a site-specific WF model. The procedure to develop a modified WF model can be applied to other regions.http://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/7/3/1068water temperaturestreams/riversair temperaturewave function modelregression modellogistic model |
| spellingShingle | Gang Chen Xing Fang Accuracy of Hourly Water Temperatures in Rivers Calculated from Air Temperatures Water water temperature streams/rivers air temperature wave function model regression model logistic model |
| title | Accuracy of Hourly Water Temperatures in Rivers Calculated from Air Temperatures |
| title_full | Accuracy of Hourly Water Temperatures in Rivers Calculated from Air Temperatures |
| title_fullStr | Accuracy of Hourly Water Temperatures in Rivers Calculated from Air Temperatures |
| title_full_unstemmed | Accuracy of Hourly Water Temperatures in Rivers Calculated from Air Temperatures |
| title_short | Accuracy of Hourly Water Temperatures in Rivers Calculated from Air Temperatures |
| title_sort | accuracy of hourly water temperatures in rivers calculated from air temperatures |
| topic | water temperature streams/rivers air temperature wave function model regression model logistic model |
| url | http://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/7/3/1068 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT gangchen accuracyofhourlywatertemperaturesinriverscalculatedfromairtemperatures AT xingfang accuracyofhourlywatertemperaturesinriverscalculatedfromairtemperatures |