IoT-Integrated Variance-Combined Bias Correction for Enhancing Hydrological Forecasting

Accurate streamflow (SF) forecasting is crucial for effective water-resource management amid global climate change. Traditional ensemble SF-forecasting methods, relying on historical data and watershed characteristics, often produce uncertainties in their input, structure, and parameters, reducing their forecasting accuracy. This study introduces a variance-combined bias-correction (VCB) method, integrated with Internet of Things (IoT) technology to improve ensemble SF forecasts’ accuracy and responsiveness. The VCB method significantly improves the SF-forecasting performance by incorporating variance information from ensemble forecasts along with the ensemble mean. We apply the method to the Shiquan Reservoir in China’s Han River basin, and the results show that the VCB method outperforms the Bayesian joint probability (BJP) method, achieving an increases of 8.8% in the Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency (NSE), 0.7% in the Pearson correlation coefficient (PCC), 2.1% in the qualified rate (QR), and a 7.2% reduction in the mean absolute percentage error (MAPE). Furthermore, IoT technology integration improves method inputs’ accuracy and timeliness, showing the strongest performance during extreme weather events. Thus, by improving uncertainty management and forecasting accuracy, the IoT-integrated VCB method provides more effective support for water-resource management. Future research should apply this approach to diverse hydrological contexts and explore deeper integration with machine-learning techniques.