Entropy-based assessment and clustering of potential water resources availability

The potential water resources availability (PWRA) in an area is assessed in terms of disorder in intensity and over-a-year apportionment of monthly rainfall. The disorder is measured by two different entropies, intensity entropy (IE) and apportionment entropy (AE), which are defined using Shannonʹs informational entropy theory. These entropies are standardized and pairs of standardized IE and AE for different locations of raingauges are plotted. Then, simple clustering and K-means clustering are considered for delineating PWRA distributed over an area of interest and classifying regional attributes of PWRA. Monthly rainfall data recorded at 11,260 raingauges are analyzed, and different classifications of PWRA are comparatively mapped. An example application of the proposed methodology to the worldwide PWRA assessment is discussed.