xiii

FREND (FLOW REGIMES FROM EXPERIMENTAL AND NETWORK DATA): THE FIRST ONE
HUNDRED DAYS.

A. Gustard
Institute of Hydrology, Wallingford, Oxon. 0X10 8BB, UK

ABSTRACT This paper presents the objectives and initial implementation

of the FREND (Flow Regimes from Experimental and Network Data) project,
part of Unesco1s Third International Hydrological Programme. The
organisation, the areas of research and the geographical coverage of the
project are described, and a brief account given of the data collection,
a major phase of the project. The criteria for selecting gauging
stations from the study area, the quantity, type and distribution of
data transferred to the project archive and the quality control of these
data are described. This is followed by a discussion of the different
flow data requirements of the individual studies carried out within the
project and finally an outline of the catchment characteristic data used
and its derivation.

INTRODUCTION

The planning and establishment of representative and experimental basins

and the collection of records from them was a major and valuable
initiative of the Unesco International Hydrological Decade (IHD) and
International Hydrological Programme (IHP). Numerous isolated basin
studies have resulted from this but there have been few attempts to
generalise or extrapolate research results beyond individual basin
boundaries. The FREND (Flow Regimes from Experimental and Network Data)
project sought to overcome this deficiency by applying statistical
analysis and modelling techniques to an extensive hydrological database.
The project represents a major contribution to Project 6.1 of the Third
International Hydrological Programme, the aim of which is to use
representative and experimental basins for monitoring natural and man
made changes in hydrological regimes.
The initial project proposal from the United Kingdom was dicussed at
the sixth session of the Intergovernmental Council meeting of the IHP in
March 1984. There was substantial support for the proposed project and
there followed a consultation period when national IHP committees were
invited to comment on the proposal. Active participation in the project
was forthcoming from a number of countries in one or more of the
following areas:-
* the secondment of scientific staff
* assistance with the selection and transfer of data
* provision of literature surveys
A steering group with representatives from Unesco and from the IHP
committees of those countries contributing to the project was convened
and this was supported by a smaller steering committee with
representatives from countries seconding staff full time to the project.
The first meeting of the steering group included a number of
presentations of national reports on the main areas of research which
could be addressed by the project, on the data which could be made
 xiv

available and suggestions on how liaison should be established with each

country. The need to assemble a large European database was emphasised
and it was agreed that this data should be used to develop techniques
for transferring results to ungauged basins and to collate and where
possible extend the results of land use change investigations. A study
programme was then formulated and this was discussed and approved at the
first steering committee meeting. This meeting also recommended that an
international literature review from a wide range of countries should be
carried out in order to provide a wider background to the FREND project.

OBJECTIVES

Three main approaches were followed in the study. First, a regional

analysis of hydrological extremes; second, the application of standard
procedures for analysing data from small research basins and third, a
more intensive investigation of some human influences on hydrological
regimes. It was anticipated that the results of the study would not be
of only scientific interest but would also be of practical use in water
resource planning, flood design and in evaluating the hydrological
impact of various human activities.
To meet these general aims the project had the following individual
objectives:-
* To develop a database of river flow and rainfall data and to make
this data generally available at the completion of the project.
* To describe the spatial and temporal variability of the frequency
of both floods and low flows.
* To apply existing methods and to develop new methods for estimating
extreme events at ungauged sites.
* To apply consistent methods of analysis to a number of small
research basins in order to support the development of an
International Standard for the collection, archiving and analysis
of small research basin data.
* To use models developed on small research basins for evaluating the
impact of human influences, including the impact on the soil
moisture regime of lowering the groundwater table and the impact
of land use change (land drainage and afforestation) on river
flows.
* To carry out a literature survey of the most important human
influences (Arnell (éd.), 1989).

THE STUDY AREA

The geographical extent of the project includes the area of northern and
western Europe shown in Fig. 1. The area was selected on the basis of
the number of staff working on the project, the availability of
hydrological data and the requirement to restrict the number of major
climatic zones considered. The chosen region thus represents a balance
between the objective of implementing an international project over a
wide geographical area, and the resources available and the hydrology
of the region. On a global scale the region can be described as humid
with rainfall exceeding potential evaporation over most of the study
area. Furthermore, with potential evaporation lying between 500 and
1000 mm, the area is defined as being temperate (Falkenmark and Chapman,
1989), although exceptions include the northern regions of the Nordic
countries and the more mountainous parts of the study area.
 XV

Fig. 1 The FREND study area

PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION

The project group of six staff was fully established at the Institute of
Hydrology in January 1986. Three of the group were funded by the UK and
three by funding organisations in Norway, the Federal Republic of
Germany and the Netherlands. Hydrologists from Sweden, Finland and
Belgium have worked with the project group on FREND or on related
studies for shorter periods. The project has benefited from a wide
range of facilities at the Institute of Hydrology, including data bases
for archiving time series and gridded catchment data, software for the
automatic derivation of catchment characteristics, mainframe and
microcomputer facilities, together with cartographic, word processing,
secretarial and report preparation facilities. Discussions with a
number of project groups working in related fields at the Institute of
Hydrology and at organisations in the seconding countries have also
provided valuable scientific and technical support to the project.
The main activity during the first hundred days of the project was
establishing contacts with hydrological organisations in the study area
in order to select suitable data for the project and to arrange for the
transfer of this data to Wallingford. This involved liaising with over
40 European agencies including national and state hydrological services,
water management agencies, research institutes and university
departments. A summary of the organisation of each country's
hydrological services is presented in Gustard et al. (1989).
This data collection programme covered a wide geographical area (Fig.
1) and a wide range of data types, and represented a major component of
the FREND project. As a result the final data base was not completed
until the second year of the project. The following section describes
 xv i

the collection of research basin data, data from national network

stations, and the development of an archive of basin characteristics.

DATA SELECTION

The' criteria for selecting basins for the study depended on the specific
objective of each subproject, and a list of these criteria is given in
Table 1. The final archive therefore included different datasets,
specific to each subproject. With the exception of the human impact
study, stations with 10 or more years of data were selected initially,
although some shorter series were later included and used in the
analysis. Catchment size was limited to 500 km2 although some slightly
larger catchments were included in the regional studies in order to fill
gaps in the geographical distribution of the data.
In order to relate flow indices to catchment characteristics it was
important to use good quality flow data from relatively natural
catchments. Thus an assessment was made of the hydrometric accuracy and
the extent of artificial influences on both flood and low flows by
discussion with the organisation responsible for each station. For the
small research basin studies more detailed daily and monthly
precipitation data were required, and for some of the modelling studies
data with a finer time resolution for both flow and precipitation were
needed, as well as meteorological data for evaporation estimates,
groundwater data and detailed information on soils and catchment
drainage.
Data from both the national hydrometric basins and from those clearly
defined as small research basins were used in the study to provide an
extensive database for regional studies. Some potentially good quality
data had to be excluded due to being unavailable on floppy disk or
magnetic tape, or not being fully processed. Fig. 2 summarises the
numbers and station types used in the study. Volume II of the FREND
report (Gustard et al. 1989) gives a full tabulation of the stations.
The distribution by country of the data used for the regional flood and
low flow studies is presented in Table 2, and the geographical location
of these stations is shown in Fig. 3.

SmeH Rogoarch basins

Total 115

Fig. 2 Summary of data collection in the FREND project

 xvii

TABLE 1 Criteria for data selection

CRITERIA STUDY
Floods Low Small Human
Flows Research Impact
Basins

Continuous measurement of flow to provide X

instantaneous annual and seasonal flood
peaks

Well defined flood rating curve with

limited extrapolation

No tidal influences or backwater effects X X

Continuous measurement of flow to provide X X

mean daily flow data

Accurate measurements of low flows with

flow measuring structure or stable low
flow rating curve

Artificial influences less than 10% of low

flows

Daily point and monthly average precipitation

Accurately measured precipitation with

fine time resolution (e.g. hourly)

Groundwater levels X

At least one meteorological station with X

measurements of temperature, humidity and
net radiation

Limited glacial influence X X

Clearly defined catchment boundaries, i.e. X X

common topographic and subsurface aquifer
boundaries and no lakes

Availability of derived catchment

characterisitics or thematic data to
calculate them

Detailed information on catchment

characteristics, especially morphology,
pedology, geology and land use

Channel characteristics such as slope,

length, cross-sectional area and roughness
coefficients.
 XV11X

Fig. 3 Location of the regional flood and low flow stations

Table 2 The number of basins and station years per country for the
regional studies.

Country Floods Low flows

Number of Number of
years per years per
stations years station stations years station

United Kingdom 486 8259 17.0 511 9032 17.7

Republic of Ireland 75 1108 14.8 23 490 21.3
France 381 4340 11.4 231 3596 15.6
F.R. Germany 329 8637 26.2 197 5648 28.7
Belgium 35 320 9.1 41 541 13.2
Luxembourg 1 8 8.0 0 0 0.0
Denmark 20 211 10.6 18 817 45.4
Netherlands 8 78 9.8 13 139 10.7
Switzerland 84 1570 18.7 39 1360 34.9
Austria 0 0 0.0 78 1682 21.6
Norway 99 1486 15.0 114 2407 21.1
Sweden 43 519 12.1 48 1098 22.9
Finland 36 647 18.0 37 907 24.5

Sum 1597 27183 1350 27717

Average 17.0 20.5
 XIX

REGIONAL DATA

For the flood studies annual maximum flood data (either hourly or
instantaneous maxima) were collected from the study area, resulting in a
dataset of 1597 stations of seven or more years of data. The spatial
distribution of the stations varies considerably within the study area,
reflecting to some extent the density of the station network in each
country. Host prominent gaps in areal coverage occur in eastern Norway
and central Sweden where large catchment sizes and extensive hydropower
regulati ons exclude almost all stations. The historical period covered
by the data also varies from country to country, with most of the longer
records occurring in the F.R. Germany, the UK and Switzerland. Fig. 4
shows the distribution of the record lengths of the flood, low flow and
research basin data.

Flood catchments
« 0 -

1
-

r 20
h ——i
40
r~~ i

Low flow catchments

Research catchments

J 20-

Ï
t0
13 -
a:

0- (=3 . !

Fig. 4 The distribution of the record lengths of the flood, low flow
and small research basin series

The low flow analysis included data from 1350 stations in the study
area. These display a similar geographical distribution to the flood
stations, with a high density coverage of the UK and fewer stations in
the northwest of the F.R. Germany and the north of the project area.
Although some stations have records in excess of 50 years in length the
 XX

majority of time series were between 15 and 30 years long (Fig. 4 ) . A

number of long European time series were not included in the study
because they are strongly influenced by artificial factors or because
they have basin areas in excess of the threshold used in the study, of
500 km2. Many of the smallest catchments of less than 10 km2 included
in the flood and low flow studies are small research basins, which thus
provide an important dataset for regional studies of small catchments.
An essential part of data validataion was advice on data quality and
and local conditions obtained from the hydrometric agencies contributing
to the project. In addition the data were checked after transfer to the
FREND archive. Flood data were checked for signs of artificial
influences and other suspect values by statistical tests on single sites
and groups of adjacent sites, and erroneous data corrected where
possible in cooperation with the institutions supplying the data. Daily
flow data used mainly in low flow analysis were checked by calculating
specific flow values and comparing these with excpected regional values,
and by examining the plotted hydrographs for anomalous peaks and
troughs, unnatural zeros and uniform flows in the flow series, and to
identify those stations affected by ice damming in winter. It was found
that just over 1% of the station years of data required correction of
some sort.

SMALL RESEARCH BASIN AND MODELLING DATA

Many of the small research basins initially identified did not meet the
requirements of the selection procedure and so were excluded for reasons
that included urbanization, glaciation, topographic boundary differing
from aquifer boundary, restrictions imposed on record lengths, lack of
processing or quality control of the data, lack of rainfall data or data
being unavailable on magnetic tape or floppy disk. The basins selected
are well distributed over the UK, Switzerland and Finland, and widely
scattered or unevenly clustered in the remainder of the study area.
Fig. 5 shows the geographical distribution of the small research basins
and stations used in the modelling studies in the project. A total of
115 flow records were included in the analysis, of which 73 had daily
precipitation data available for one or more stations in or near the
catchment. Most catchments had record lengths of less than 30 years
(Fig. 4) and areas of less than 100 km2.
The modelling studies required rainfall, evaporation, groundwater and
soil moisture data depending on the particular objective of each study.
13 sites in all were used for some aspect of the modelling work, which
included studies of the relationship between groundwater level and soil
moisture, the impact of land drainage, and the impact of afforestation
on flow regimes. All the catchments, with one exception, were less than
20 km2 in area, and in general short periods of fine resolution data
were used in the studies.

CATCHMENT CHARACTERISTICS

The development of relationships between hydrological variables and

physical properties of the catchment depends on the availability of
suitable indices of basin properties as well as flow data. For the
FREND study the selection of basin characteristics to be used was based
on hydrological principles, the availability of previously derived
 xxi

Fig. 5 The locations of the small research basins and the sites for
modelling human influence

characteristics, experience gained from other studies, the purpose of

the particular studies and the ease of calculation. The characteristics
are summarised in Volume II of the FREND report (Gustard et al. 1989),
and a selection of the morphometric and climatic indices is presented in
Table 3.
Morphometric characteristics for regional studies were calculated
from suitable scaled maps by digital cartographic techniques described
more fully in Annex 2 of the FREND report (Gustard et al. 1989). The
climatic characteristics of average annual rainfall (AAR) and ten year
return period, two day rainfall (M10-2D) were similarly derived for each
catchment from a 2.5 km resolution grid of values. Two indices of
continentality, DSEA and WSEA, were calculated from maps for the flood
study stations as. the distance to the nearest coast and the distance to
the coast to the west respectively.
In addition to the morphometric and climatic characteristics it was
considered important to index the geology or soil type of each
catchment. Suitable digital geological data were unavailable for the
study, but by means of a video data capture system the five class
hydrological soil map available for the majority of the study area was
digitised, and the soil information used as an index of catchment
response.
 XX11

Table 3 Summary of the derived catchment characteristics

Acronym Method of calculation

AREA Catchment area in km2 obtained by planimetry,

'counting squares' or digitizing on a convenient scale
map.
HTSTN Altitude of gauging station derived from a map,
literature or yearbooks.
HMEAN, HMAX Median basin altitude and maximum basin
altitude both derived from the hypsographic curve.
MSL Length of main stream in km obtained either manually
by stepping up the main stream with dividers or by
digitizing the river.
SL1085 The stream channel slope measured between two
points at 10% and 85% of the stream length of the
longest stream from the gauging station.
STMFRQ The number of stream junctions divided by the
catchment area.
FOLIS The number of streams intersecting a circle of 30cm
diameter laid on a 1:50 000 scale topographical map.
HFORM Horton shape factor: catchment area divided by the
square of the length of catchment axis.
FALAKE Ratio between the area of the lakes and basin area.
LAKE The sum of the areas of the catchment which drain
through a lake, divided by the catchment area.
WPLAKE Weighted lake percentage taking lake surface area
into account together with contributing area.
AAR average annual area rainfall.
M10-2D Two day duration rainfall with a return period of
10 years.
DSEA The shortest distance to the sea in km.
WSEA The shortest distance to the sea to the west.

(For small research basins only)

DD Drainage density in km of channel per km2 of
catchment area.
SL The stream channel slope measured between the upper
point, where the main stream reaches the divide, and the
gauging station.
RB Strahler's bifurcation ratio, derived from stream
orders.

CONCLUSION

The first one hundred days of the FREND project saw the general
objectives of the project, to use representative and experimental basins
for monitoring natural and man made changes in hydrological regimes,
develop into a study programme. One of the initial tasks of the project
team was to select and collect data from a large number of agencies in
the study area of northern and western Europe, and build up a
comprehensive data base of daily flow series, annual maxima and
catchment characteristic data for the regional flood and low flow
 xxiii

studies, as well as more detailed meteorological, soil moisture ajjd

groundwater data for the small research basin and catchment modelling
studies.
This data collection programme, covering a wide geographical area, a
wide range of data types, and involving over 40 European agencies,
represented a major component of the FREND project. Improvements to the
data base could be made by extending the length of some of the flow
series and improving the geographical distribution of stationp.
Furthermore the development of a consistent set of catchment
characteristics across the entire region would be of value to subsequent
regional studies. However, the current data base is a valuable research
resource for the tasks of describing the temporal and spatial
variability of the frequency of floods and low flows, and for developing
new techniques for analysing research basin data and studying human
influences. To fulfil one of the initial objectives of the project, the
river flow, rainfall and single value catchment characteristic indices
have been made generally available for use in future research.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The work presented in this paper was carried out as part of the FREND
(Flow Regimes from Experimental and Network Data) project, which w a s ^
contribution to Project 6.1 of the Third International Hydrologicàl
Programme. This paper is presented on behalf of the FREND project team,
who would like to acknowledge the cooperation of all the organisations
that have donated data to the project.

REFERENCES

Arnell, N.W. (ed.) (1989)

Human influences on hydroloqical behaviour: an international
literature survey. Unesco Technical Documents in Hydrology (in
press)
Beran, M.A., Wiltshire, S.E. and Gustard, A. (1984)
Report of the European Flood Study. Institute of Hydrology,
Wallingford, UK
Falkenmark, H. and Chapman, T. (ed) (1989)
Comparative Hydrology, (in press)
Gross, R. (1989)
An inexpensive video data capture system for hydrologicàl maps.
Hydroloqical Sciences Journal 34 (in press)
Gustard, A., Roald, L., Demuth, S., Lumadjeng, H. and Gross, R. (1989)
Flow Regimes from Experimental and Network Data (FREND). 2 Vols.
Institute of Hydrology, Wallingford, Oxon., UK