Global streamflows - Part 1: Characteristics of annual streamflows

Abstract

This is the first of three related papers that summarizes streamflow characteristics of a set of 1221 global rivers. The rivers are well distributed world-wide, are un-impacted by upstream reservoirs or diversions for the period of data collection and have at least 10 years of continuous monthly and annual streamflow data. The following key features of annual flows are examined: mean, variability and skewness, distribution type (Gamma or Lognormal), flow percentiles and dependence. High and low frequency persistence is examined through the Empirical Mode Decomposition technique. Low flow run length, magnitude and severity are also explored, where severity is based on Extended Deficit Analysi..