Wavelet-Enhanced Machine Learning Framework for Monthly Streamflow Prediction: A Comparative Assessment of Hybrid Models
Öz
Accurate forecasting of streamflows is crucial for water resources management, flooding, and climate-resilient hydrology. However, the nonlinear and nonstationary properties of hydrological series often limit the forecasting capabilities of conventional data-based techniques. This study presents a hybrid wavelet-machine learning framework for the prediction of monthly streamflows in the Karamandere Creek Basin (Türkiye) based on the combination of Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) and five supervised machine learning techniques, including Decision Tree (DT), Linear Regression (LR), Random Forest (RF), Extra Trees (ET), and Support Vector Regression (SVR). The effect of feature representation through multiple resolution levels on the quality of predictions was investigated for two wavelet families, Daubechies (db4) and Symlet (sym8). Hydro-meteorological daily measurements like streamflow, precipitation, and temperature obtained from 2005 to 2020 were aggregated to monthly values and further sequentially partitioned into training (154 samples) and test (36 samples) datasets in order to preserve time consistency. Model efficiency assessment was performed using the coefficient of determination (R²), root mean square error (RMSE), and mean absolute error (MAE). Experimental results indicate that feature extraction based on wavelet transforms increases the prediction precision for all machine learning algorithms in comparison with raw data inputs. In comparison with the considered approaches, the Random Forest approach coupled with Symlet wavelet features demonstrated the best predictive performance (R² = 0.92), slightly outperformed by the Extra Trees approach (R² = 0.91). Among other techniques, the Support Vector Regression technique displayed the greatest improvement rate in prediction accuracy due to the wavelet transformation of features, as the R² score increased from 0.65 to 0.88. The comparison proves the superiority of the Symlet wavelets in terms of signal decomposition compared to Daubechies wavelets because of their smoothness and interpretability. Thus, the proposed approach confirms that the multiresolution approach to feature extraction helps enhance the robustness and generalization capacity of machine learning models for predicting the streamflow.
Anahtar Kelimeler
Kaynakça
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Ayrıntılar
Birincil Dil
İngilizce
Konular
Su Kaynakları Mühendisliği
Bölüm
Araştırma Makalesi
Yazarlar
Uğur Akbulut
0000-0003-2867-523X
Türkiye
Yousef Farhang
*
0000-0001-9348-2624
Türkiye
Mehmet Akif Çifçi
0000-0002-6439-8826
Türkiye
Adem Özyavaş
0000-0001-5375-1826
Türkiye
Zafer Aslan
0000-0001-7707-7370
Türkiye
Kasım Koçak
0000-0002-5611-0298
Türkiye
Yayımlanma Tarihi
20 Ekim 2026
Gönderilme Tarihi
18 Ağustos 2026
Kabul Tarihi
9 Ekim 2026
Yayımlandığı Sayı
Yıl 2026 Sayı: 6