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Marshall E. Moss

Publications and source records attributed to Marshall E. Moss.

7 recordsLinked to original sources
USGS2010

Some basic considerations in the design of hydrologic data networks

Two preeminent considerations of data network design are the random nature of the hydrologic phenomena and the uses that will be made of the data. Information distilled from the data is usually measured in a parametric statistical sense, although the data user is more concerned with the integrated measure of information - what impact does the lack of perfect hydrologic information have on the ensuing decisions? Two facets of the network, the efficiency of the data collection and the effectiveness of the resulting information, must be integrated to achieve a complete network design.

Water Resources Research↗
USGS2010

Space, time, and the third dimension (model error)

The space-time tradeoff of hydrologic data collection (the ability to substitute spatial coverage for temporal extension of records or vice versa) is controlled jointly by the statistical properties of the phenomena that are being measured and by the model that is used to meld the information sources. The control exerted on the space-time tradeoff by the model and its accompanying errors has seldom been studied explicitly. The technique, known as Network Analyses for Regional Information (NARI), permits such a study of the regional regression model that is used to relate streamflow parameters to the physical and climatic characteristics of the drainage basin. The NARI technique shows that model improvement is a viable and sometimes necessary means of improving regional data collection systems. Model improvement provides an immediate increase in the accuracy of regional parameter estimation and also increases the information potential of future data collection. Model improvement, which can only be measured in a statistical sense, cannot be quantitatively estimated prior to its achievement; thus an attempt to upgrade a particular model entails a certain degree of risk on the part of the hydrologist.

Water Resources Research↗
USGS1982

Design of surface-water data networks for regional information

This report describes a technique, Network Analysis of Regional Information (NARI), and the existing computer procedures that have been developed for the specification of the regional information-cost relation for several statistical parameters of streamflow. The measure of information used is the true standard error of estimate of a regional logarithmic regression. The cost is a function of the number of stations at which hydrologic data are collected and the number of years for which the data are collected. The technique can be used to obtain either (1) a minimum cost network that will attain a prespecified accuracy and reliability or (2) a network that maximizes information given a set of budgetary and time constraints.

Water Supply Paper↗
USGS1978

Evaluation and design of a streamflow-data network in Washington

A method of evaluating the transferability of streamflow information by regional regression analysis was applied in Washington to several streamflow variables. The annual mean and annual standard deviation were chosen to represent the development potential of the water resource, while the mean, standard deviation, and the 50-year recurrence interval of the annual flood series were chosen to represent flood potential. Low-flow characteristics were not used because of the inability to model them by regression analysis. Ephemeral streams in the vicinity of the Columbia Plateau were ignored for the same reason. The results of the study indicate that the standard errors of estimate of the regression relations were good approximations of the medians of the Bayesian distributions of estimates of inaccuracy and that for the streamflow variables used in the study, little if any improvement can be expected in the regression relations by the collection of additional streamflow data. Improved transferability of streamflow information for these variables has a prerequisite of more accurate information-transfer models. It is therefore recommended that the future streamflow-data network contain only those streamflow stations needed to provide data for (1) the design or operation of water-resources projects, (2) the investigation and study of water resources, and (3) monitoring long-term trends in streamflow.

Washington↗