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Mays et al. 2002
Mays, D.C., Faybishenko, B.A. and Finsterle, S. (2002). Information entropy to measure temporal and spatial complexity of unsaturated flow in heterogeneous media. Water Resources Research 38: doi: 10.1029/2001WR001185. issn: 0043-1397.

Geologic heterogeneity, coupled with the nonlinear interplay of gravity, capillarity, and applied pressure gradients, results in a rich variety of flow behaviors in unsaturated fractured rocks and porous media. In this paper, we evaluate the complexity of these behaviors using information entropy. We create an empirical probability distribution function directly from a data set, then apply Shannon's definition of information entropy to quantify the complexity of the data. As an example, we use information entropy to evaluate the temporal and spatial complexity of simulated flow processes invoked by infiltration into heterogeneous porous media. Our analysis shows that the complexity of this unsaturated flow process depends on both geologic heterogeneity and uncertainty arising from the flow dynamics. Finally, we investigate the marginal value of additional data collection using randomly selected virtual wells. These calculations demonstrate that computed information entropy increases with additional virtual wells, but the rate of increase declines.

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Abstract

Keywords
Hydrology, Soil moisture, Hydrology, Unsaturated zone, Mathematical Geophysics, Modeling, General or Miscellaneous, Techniques applicable in three or more fields
Journal
Water Resources Research
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Publisher
American Geophysical Union
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