Application of Data Fusion for Uncertainty and Sensitivity Analysis of Water Quality in the Shenandoah River

This article is aimed at demonstrating the feasibility of combining water quality observations with modeling using data fusion techniques for efficient nutrients monitoring in the Shenandoah River (SR). It explores the hypothesis; “Sensitivity and uncertainty from water quality modeling and field observation can be improved through data fusion for a better prediction of water quality.” It models water quality using water quality simulation programs and combines the results with field observation, using a Kalman filter (KF). The results show that the analysis can be improved by using more observations in watersheds where minor variations to the analysis result in large differences in the subsequent forecast. Analyses also show that while data fusion was an invaluable tool to reduce uncertainty, an improvement in the temporal scales would also enhance results and reduce uncertainty. To examine how changes in the field observation affects the final KF analysis, the fusion and lab analysis cross-validation showed some improvement in the results with a very high coefficient of determination.