An entropy-based measure of hydrologic complexity and its applications

Basin response and hydrologic fluxes are functions of hydrologic states, most notably of soil moisture. However, characterization of hillslope-scale soil moisture is challenging since it is both spatially heterogeneous and dynamic. This paper introduces an entropy-based and discretization-invariant...

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Main Authors: Castelli, Fabio, Castillo, Aldrich Edra, Entekhabi, Dara
Other Authors: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Format: Article
Language:en_US
Published: American Geophysical Union 2017
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/110324
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4265-1314
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8362-4761
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author Castelli, Fabio
Castillo, Aldrich Edra
Entekhabi, Dara
author2 Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
author_facet Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Castelli, Fabio
Castillo, Aldrich Edra
Entekhabi, Dara
author_sort Castelli, Fabio
collection MIT
description Basin response and hydrologic fluxes are functions of hydrologic states, most notably of soil moisture. However, characterization of hillslope-scale soil moisture is challenging since it is both spatially heterogeneous and dynamic. This paper introduces an entropy-based and discretization-invariant dimensionless index of hydrologic complexity math formula that measures the distance of a given distribution of soil moisture from a Dirac delta (most organization) and a uniform distribution (widest distribution). Applying the distributed hydrologic model MOBIDIC to seven test basins with areas ranging 10⁰−10³ km² and representing semiarid and temperate climates, math formula is shown to capture distributional characteristics of soil moisture fields. It can also track the temporal evolution of the distributional features. Furthermore, this paper explores how basin attributes affect the characteristic math formula, and how math formula can be used to explain interbasin variability in hydrologic response. Relationships are found only by grouping basins with the same climate or size. For the semiarid basins, math formula scales with catchment area, topographic wetness, infiltration ratio, and base flow index; while math formula is inversely related to relief ratio.
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spelling mit-1721.1/1103242022-09-29T20:51:18Z An entropy-based measure of hydrologic complexity and its applications Castelli, Fabio Castillo, Aldrich Edra Entekhabi, Dara Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Castillo, Aldrich Edra Entekhabi, Dara Basin response and hydrologic fluxes are functions of hydrologic states, most notably of soil moisture. However, characterization of hillslope-scale soil moisture is challenging since it is both spatially heterogeneous and dynamic. This paper introduces an entropy-based and discretization-invariant dimensionless index of hydrologic complexity math formula that measures the distance of a given distribution of soil moisture from a Dirac delta (most organization) and a uniform distribution (widest distribution). Applying the distributed hydrologic model MOBIDIC to seven test basins with areas ranging 10⁰−10³ km² and representing semiarid and temperate climates, math formula is shown to capture distributional characteristics of soil moisture fields. It can also track the temporal evolution of the distributional features. Furthermore, this paper explores how basin attributes affect the characteristic math formula, and how math formula can be used to explain interbasin variability in hydrologic response. Relationships are found only by grouping basins with the same climate or size. For the semiarid basins, math formula scales with catchment area, topographic wetness, infiltration ratio, and base flow index; while math formula is inversely related to relief ratio. 2017-06-27T18:41:04Z 2017-06-27T18:41:04Z 2015-07 2014-07 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 0043-1397 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/110324 Castillo, Aldrich, Fabio Castelli, and Dara Entekhabi. “An Entropy-Based Measure of Hydrologic Complexity and Its Applications.” Water Resources Research 51, 7 (July 2015): 5145–5160 © 2015 The Authors https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4265-1314 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8362-4761 en_US http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/2014wr016035 Water Resources Research Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ application/pdf American Geophysical Union American Geophysical Union
spellingShingle Castelli, Fabio
Castillo, Aldrich Edra
Entekhabi, Dara
An entropy-based measure of hydrologic complexity and its applications
title An entropy-based measure of hydrologic complexity and its applications
title_full An entropy-based measure of hydrologic complexity and its applications
title_fullStr An entropy-based measure of hydrologic complexity and its applications
title_full_unstemmed An entropy-based measure of hydrologic complexity and its applications
title_short An entropy-based measure of hydrologic complexity and its applications
title_sort entropy based measure of hydrologic complexity and its applications
url http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/110324
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4265-1314
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8362-4761
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