Pulse Brain · Growing Health Evidence Index
Tier 3 — Observational / field trialPeer-reviewed

Uncertainty estimation with deep learning for rainfall–runoff modeling

Daniel Klotz, Frederik Kratzert, Martin Gauch, Alden Keefe Sampson, J. Brandstetter, Günter Klambauer, Sepp Hochreiter, Grey Nearing

Hydrology and earth system sciences · 2022

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Summary

This paper addresses the absence of standardised benchmarking tools for uncertainty estimation in hydrological deep learning models by proposing a systematic benchmarking procedure and presenting four deep learning baselines. Mixture density networks emerged as particularly strong performers for uncertainty quantification in rainfall-runoff prediction. The work includes qualitative model analysis demonstrating that these approaches learn context-dependent behaviours across varying hydrological conditions.

UK applicability

The uncertainty quantification benchmarking framework and deep learning baselines could enhance the reliability of hydrological predictions for UK water resource management and flood forecasting applications, where uncertainty characterisation is critical for operational decision-making. The methodology is climate and geography agnostic, though application would require validation against UK hydrological datasets.

Key measures

Uncertainty estimation accuracy; performance metrics for mixture density networks and Monte Carlo dropout methods; model behavioural analysis across different hydrological situations

Outcomes reported

The study established benchmarking procedures for uncertainty estimation in deep learning hydrological models and evaluated four deep learning baselines—three mixture density network approaches and one Monte Carlo dropout approach—for their ability to produce accurate uncertainty predictions in rainfall-runoff modelling.

Theme
Measurement & metrics
Subject
Measurement methods & nutrient profiling
Study type
Research
Study design
Methodological benchmarking study
Source type
Peer-reviewed study
Status
Published
System type
Other
DOI
10.5194/hess-26-1673-2022
Catalogue ID
SNmokeh28v-w6yzgj

Topic tags

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