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While machine learning approaches are rapidly being applied to hydrologic problems, physics-informed approaches are still relatively rare. Many successful deep-learning applications have focused on point estimates of streamflow trained on stream gauge observations over time. While these approaches show promise for some applications, there is a need for distributed approaches that can produce accurate two-dimensional results of model states, such as ponded water depth. Here, we demonstrate a 2D emulator of the Tilted V catchment benchmark problem with solutions provided by the integrated hydrology model ParFlow. This emulator model can use 2D Convolution Neural Network (CNN), 3D CNN, and U-Net machine learning architectures and produces time-dependent spatial maps of ponded water depth from which hydrographs and other hydrologic quantities of interest may be derived. A comparison of different deep learning architectures and hyperparameters is presented with particular focus on approaches such as 3D CNN (that have a time-dependent learning component) and 2D CNN and U-Net approaches (that use only the current model state to predict the next state in time). In addition to testing model performance, we also use a simplified simulation based inference approach to evaluate the ability to calibrate the emulator to randomly selected simulations and the match between ML calibrated input parameters and underlying physics-based simulation.
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Development of a Deep Learning Emulator for a Distributed Groundwater–Surface Water Model: ParFlow-ML
Integrated hydrologic models solve coupled mathematical equations that represent natural processes, including groundwater, unsaturated, and overland flow. However, these models are computationally expensive. It has been recently shown that machine leaning (ML) and deep learning (DL) in particular could be used to emulate complex physical processes in the earth system. In this study, we demonstrate how a DL model can emulate transient, three-dimensional integrated hydrologic model simulations at a fraction of the computational expense. This emulator is based on a DL model previously used for modeling video dynamics, PredRNN. The emulator is trained based on physical parameters used in the original model, inputs such as hydraulic conductivity and topography, and produces spatially distributed outputs (e.g., pressure head) from which quantities such as streamflow and water table depth can be calculated. Simulation results from the emulator and ParFlow agree well with average relative biases of 0.070, 0.092, and 0.032 for streamflow, water table depth, and total water storage, respectively. Moreover, the emulator is up to 42 times faster than ParFlow. Given this promising proof of concept, our results open the door to future applications of full hydrologic model emulation, particularly at larger scales.
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- PAR ID:
- 10336010
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Water
- Volume:
- 13
- Issue:
- 23
- ISSN:
- 2073-4441
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 3393
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.3390/w13233393
