TY - JOUR
T1 - Introduction to special section on uncertainty assessment in surface and subsurface hydrology
T2 - An overview of issues and challenges
AU - Montanari, Alberto
AU - Shoemaker, Christine A.
AU - Van De Giesen, Nick
PY - 2009
Y1 - 2009
N2 - This paper introduces the Water Resources Research special section on Uncertainty Assessment in Surface and Subsurface Hydrology. Over the past years, hydrological literature has seen a large increase in the number of papers dealing with uncertainty. In this article, we present an overview of the different sources of uncertainty and the different types of problems associated with uncertainty assessment. It is argued here that clarity about which part of the large field of uncertainty research is addressed by a given research activity would already help guide discussions within the hydrological community. We present an introduction to the differences between the more classical frequentist approach to uncertainty and Bayesian approaches and between probabilistic and nonprobabilistic approaches. Bayesian approaches allow for inclusion of more subjective expert knowledge and would be more appropriate where less "hard" data are available. Any underlying assumptions need to be made very clear to the end user. Finally, a brief classification of the articles of the special section is presented.
AB - This paper introduces the Water Resources Research special section on Uncertainty Assessment in Surface and Subsurface Hydrology. Over the past years, hydrological literature has seen a large increase in the number of papers dealing with uncertainty. In this article, we present an overview of the different sources of uncertainty and the different types of problems associated with uncertainty assessment. It is argued here that clarity about which part of the large field of uncertainty research is addressed by a given research activity would already help guide discussions within the hydrological community. We present an introduction to the differences between the more classical frequentist approach to uncertainty and Bayesian approaches and between probabilistic and nonprobabilistic approaches. Bayesian approaches allow for inclusion of more subjective expert knowledge and would be more appropriate where less "hard" data are available. Any underlying assumptions need to be made very clear to the end user. Finally, a brief classification of the articles of the special section is presented.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84898080885&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1029/2009WR008471
DO - 10.1029/2009WR008471
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84898080885
SN - 0043-1397
VL - 45
JO - Water Resources Research
JF - Water Resources Research
IS - 12
M1 - W00B00
ER -