Application of artificial neural network for predicting water levels in Hooghly estuary, India

Abstract

Hydrodynamic models for morphodynamic studies in estuaries require continuous tidal water level data as boundary conditions. However, for the Hooghly estuary in India, measurement of continuous tidal water elevation data at the most downstream point is a very difficult task because of the remote location and the confluence with the deep sea. The tidal water level data at this station are measured for a half tidal cycle which is not useful for hydrodynamic modeling. However, at other upstream stations, tide water level data are measured continuously. Accordingly, in this study, an attempt is made to generate continuous tidal water level data at the remote station, using the data of the neighboring stations as input to an artificial neural network (ANN) model. A three-layered feed-forward backpropagation (FFBP) network with two hidden layers is selected and five different combinations of input vectors are used. Simulated water level data obtained from each model are compared with the observed data graphically as well as by estimating the standard error parameters. The best model suitable for prediction of continuous tidal elevation during any time of the tidal cycle and applicable throughout the year is then identified. It is found that tidal data from the nearest neighboring station are more suitable for training.