The behaviour of a hydrologic system under a Mediterranean climate using correlation and spectral analysis of the water discharge and runoff. Case of three south Mediterranean basins: (Sebdou, Mouilah and Isser wadis - Tafna - Algeria)
The aim of this work was to show that correlation and spectral analyses can be used to understand the functioning of hydrological systems. Accordingly, a study was carried out on three southern Mediterranean basins: Sebdou; Mouilah and Isser; located in the north western of Algeria. (Figure 1). Correlation and spectral analyses of daily rainfall and discharge rates for one hydrological cycle were carried out. Simple analysis Simple analysis of rainfall showed that the correlograms (Figure 2) decreased rapidly for the three basins, reaching a value of 0.2 within 1-2 days. This result indicated that rainfall was a quasi-random phenomenon. The variance density spectrum (Figure 3) showed that the rainfall distribution was not monotonous and presented a “Leigh” signal structure. The simple analysis of discharge rates indicated that the Sebdou system was different. The correlogram (Figure 4a) decreased quickly, characterising independent events without memory and with non-significant amounts of water. However, the Mouilah and Isser correlograms (Figure 4 b,c) decreased slowly. They represent important memory effects with regulation of significant amounts of water. The spectral band (Figure 5) confirmed that the Sebdou system did not modify the input information. The regulation time was about 5 d for Sebdou, 21 and 43 d respectively for Mouilah and Isser. Cross analysis The correlograms (Figure 6) show that the Mouilah and Isser rivers have a great buffering ability. The Sebdou River was characterised by a composite response of the surface flow and an important groundwater flow. The amplitude function (Figure 7) indicated that the Sebdou system had good inertia. The lag time (Figure 8) was 9, 2 and 5 days respectively for the Sebdou, Mouilah and Isser rivers. The amplification and attenuation of the input signal (Figure 10) show that the Sebdou basin is the most karstified system. The non-linearity of the relationship between rainfall and discharge was expressed by the coherence coefficient (Figure 9), which was lower than 1.