ResORR: A Globally Scalable and Satellite Data-driven Algorithm for River Flow Regulation due to Reservoir Operations
Abstract
Storage and release of surface water by reservoirs can alter the natural streamflow pattern of rivers with negative impacts on the environment. Such reservoir-driven river regulation is poorly understood at a global scale due to a lack of publicly available in-situ data on reservoir operations. However, with rapid advancements in satellite remote sensing-based tracking of reservoir state, this gap in data availability can be bridged. In this study, we modeled regulated flow of rivers using only satellite-observed reservoir state and hydrological modeling forced also with satellite precipitation data. We propose a globally scalable algorithm, ResORR (Reservoir Operations driven River Regulation), to predict regulated river flow and tested it over the heavily regulated basin of the Cumberland River in the US. ResORR was found able to model regulated river flow due to upstream reservoir operations of the Cumberland river. Over a mountainous basin dominated by high rainfall, ResORR was effective in capturing extreme flooding modified by upstream hydropower dam operations. ResORR successfully captured the peak of the regulated river flow altered by hydropower dam and flood control operations during the devastating floods of 2018 in the South Indian state of Kerala. On an average, ResORR improved regulation river flow simulation by more than 50% across all performance metrics when compared to hydrologic model without a regulation module. ResORR is a timely algorithm for understanding human regulation of surface water as satellite-estimated reservoir state is expected to improve globally with the recently launched Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission.
