Suitability of satellite-based hydro-climate variables and machine learning for streamflow modeling at various scale watersheds

ABSTRACT

Streamflow modeling is essential to investigate processes in the hydrologic cycle and important for water resource management application. However, in-situ hydrologic data paucity, because of various factors such as economic, political, instrument malfunctioning, and poor spatial distribution, makes the modeling process challenging. To overcome this limitation, we introduced a satellite remote sensing-based machine learning approach – boosted regression tree (BRT) – that integrates spatial land surface and climate variables that describe the sub-units, and applied it in three variable size watersheds in the Upper Mississippi River Basin (UMRB), USA. The model simulation results were tested using an independent dataset and showed Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency values of 0.80, 0.76, and 0.69 for the UMRB, Illinois River Watershed, and Raccoon River Watershed, respectively. In addition, we compared the performance of the machine learning models with existing process-based modeling results. Overall performance is comparable with the process-based approaches, but with significantly less modeling effort and resources.