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Catchment classification framework in hydrology: challenges and directions

Sivakumar, Bellie ; Singh, V.P. ; Berndtsson, Ronny LU orcid and Khan, Shakera K. (2015) In Journal of Hydrologic Engineering 20(1).
Abstract
The past few decades have witnessed the development of numerous catchment models, often with increasing structural complexity and mathematical sophistication. While such models have certainly provided a better understanding of catchments and associated processes, they are also often catchment-specific, region-specific, or process-specific. Serious concerns on this modeling trend have been increasingly raised in recent times and, consequently, the need for a generic catchment classification framework in hydrology has been emphasized. There have indeed been some attempts to advance the idea of such a classification framework. Such studies have investigated different ways of developing a framework, including river morphology, river regimes,... (More)
The past few decades have witnessed the development of numerous catchment models, often with increasing structural complexity and mathematical sophistication. While such models have certainly provided a better understanding of catchments and associated processes, they are also often catchment-specific, region-specific, or process-specific. Serious concerns on this modeling trend have been increasingly raised in recent times and, consequently, the need for a generic catchment classification framework in hydrology has been emphasized. There have indeed been some attempts to advance the idea of such a classification framework. Such studies have investigated different ways of developing a framework, including river morphology, river regimes, hydroclimatic factors, landscape and land use parameters, hydrologic similarity indexes, hydrologic signatures, ecohydrologic factors, geostatistical properties, entropy, nonlinear and chaotic properties, data mining, and other relevant characteristics and methods. Although useful in their own ways, these studies are largely inadequate for a generic classification framework. In addition to the limitations that exist in each of the different forms, a coherent effort to bring these disparate forms together for a workable classification is also missing. This study highlights the challenges that the existing approaches pose in the development of a generic classification framework. It argues for an appropriate basis, a suitable methodology, and key components for such a framework. In particular, it discusses the vital role of system complexity as an appropriate basis for the classification framework and the potential of nonlinear dynamics, networks, and other modern concepts of complex systems science for assessing system complexity. The study also offers a three-step procedure for formulation and verification of a catchment classification framework. (Less)
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author
; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Journal of Hydrologic Engineering
volume
20
issue
1
publisher
American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)
external identifiers
  • wos:000346342000001
  • scopus:84921044474
ISSN
1084-0699
DOI
10.1061/(ASCE)HE.1943-5584.0000837
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
abc53a2d-5f32-48a8-90c8-82e5cf5a9c44 (old id 4221639)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 14:50:06
date last changed
2023-10-15 23:29:09
@article{abc53a2d-5f32-48a8-90c8-82e5cf5a9c44,
  abstract     = {{The past few decades have witnessed the development of numerous catchment models, often with increasing structural complexity and mathematical sophistication. While such models have certainly provided a better understanding of catchments and associated processes, they are also often catchment-specific, region-specific, or process-specific. Serious concerns on this modeling trend have been increasingly raised in recent times and, consequently, the need for a generic catchment classification framework in hydrology has been emphasized. There have indeed been some attempts to advance the idea of such a classification framework. Such studies have investigated different ways of developing a framework, including river morphology, river regimes, hydroclimatic factors, landscape and land use parameters, hydrologic similarity indexes, hydrologic signatures, ecohydrologic factors, geostatistical properties, entropy, nonlinear and chaotic properties, data mining, and other relevant characteristics and methods. Although useful in their own ways, these studies are largely inadequate for a generic classification framework. In addition to the limitations that exist in each of the different forms, a coherent effort to bring these disparate forms together for a workable classification is also missing. This study highlights the challenges that the existing approaches pose in the development of a generic classification framework. It argues for an appropriate basis, a suitable methodology, and key components for such a framework. In particular, it discusses the vital role of system complexity as an appropriate basis for the classification framework and the potential of nonlinear dynamics, networks, and other modern concepts of complex systems science for assessing system complexity. The study also offers a three-step procedure for formulation and verification of a catchment classification framework.}},
  author       = {{Sivakumar, Bellie and Singh, V.P. and Berndtsson, Ronny and Khan, Shakera K.}},
  issn         = {{1084-0699}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{1}},
  publisher    = {{American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)}},
  series       = {{Journal of Hydrologic Engineering}},
  title        = {{Catchment classification framework in hydrology: challenges and directions}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)HE.1943-5584.0000837}},
  doi          = {{10.1061/(ASCE)HE.1943-5584.0000837}},
  volume       = {{20}},
  year         = {{2015}},
}