Applications of TLS and related methods in the environmental sciences

Rainfall-Runoff and Signal Separation Problems: The process of converting rainfall into runoff is a highly nonlinear problem due to the soil-water interaction that starts when rainfall reaches the ground. Additional variables to consider are evaporation, transpiration, losses due to vegetation and land use, and the different flow processes that take place in a watershed. For instance, baseflow is a much slower process than groundwater and surface flow. Given records of rainfall and runoff data, one can build an accurate state-space model such as xk+1 = Axk + Buk + wk yk = Cxk + Duk + vk, where at time k, uk, yk, and xk are, respectively, the rainfall, runoff, and the state of the system. Such models have been used in real-time forecasting scenarios for flood control purposes [12]. However, the above model does not take into account the nonlinearities of the rainfall-runoff process. Most lumped rainfall-runoff models separate the baseflow and groundwater components from the...

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2007
• Where: CSDA
• Authors: José A. Ramos
• Keywords: CSDA 2007