Watersheds aggregate precipitation signals of many intensities and from many locations into a single observable streamflow at an outlet point. This dependency between precipitation and streamflow varies seasonally and can shift over time due to changes in land cover, climate, human water uses, or changes in properties of precipitation events themselves. We apply information theory‐based measures to capture temporal linkages, or information transfers, from daily precipitation occurrence at different locations in a basin to streamflow at an outlet. We detect critical magnitudes of precipitation and lag times associated with the strongest precipitation‐streamflow relationships, and further partition information transfers to determine relative contributions from the knowledge of wet versus dry past states. Based on an analysis of daily U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) streamflow and Climate Prediction Center (CPC) gridded gauge‐based precipitation data sets in the Colorado Headwaters Basin, this dependency is strongest in fall, the longest dominant lag times occur in spring, and the strengths of dependencies have increased in spring and summer over the past 65 years. These features relate to both seasonal and spatial characteristics of precipitation and the landscape. A partitioning of information components shows that in this basin, the particular knowledge of a lagged, or past, wet state tends to be more informative to flow than a lagged dry state, even though dry days are more frequent. This study introduces several signatures of precipitation‐streamflow relationships that can also more broadly characterize strengths, thresholds, and timescales associated with various interconnected processes.

中文翻译：

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信息流：使用信息论方法表征科罗拉多河源区降水与水流的相关性

分水岭聚集了许多强度的降水信号，并从许多位置汇集到了出口处可观测的单个水流中。降水和水流之间的这种依赖关系随季节变化，并且由于土地覆盖，气候，人类用水或降水事件本身性质的变化而随时间变化。我们采用基于信息论的方法来捕获时间联系或信息传递，从流域内不同位置的日降水量到出口处的水流。我们检测到降水的临界强度和与最强的降水-水流关系相关的滞后时间，并进一步划分信息传递，从对过去和过去的湿润状态的了解中确定相对贡献。根据每日美国分析 科罗拉多河源流域的地质调查（USGS）流量和气候预测中心（CPC）网格化的基于轨距的降水数据集，这种依赖性在秋季最强，最长的显性滞后时间发生在春季，而依赖性的强度在过去65年的春季和夏季。这些特征与降水和景观的季节和空间特征有关。信息成分的划分表明，在该流域中，即使干燥天更加频繁，但对于滞后或过去的潮湿状态的特定知识往往比滞后的干燥状态对流动的信息更为丰富。本研究介绍了降水与流量关系的几个特征，它们也可以更广泛地表征强度，阈值，