The regionalizing of the entropy parameter over the north Algerian watersheds: a discharge measurement approach for ungauged river sites

River monitoring is of considerable importance in any watershed management strategy. In the present research, to estimate the discharge rate, an entropy approach based on the estimation of a single parameter ϕ(M) was tested for the drainage network of a wide region of the central and east part of Algeria. The network covers 1115 wadis (rivers) with a total length of 14 137 km. Four different models were investigated in order to get a mapping of ϕ(M) usable along channels for any ungauged river sites. A velocity dataset of 50 gauged stations involving 10 000 measurements were used for the analysis. The data for 2/3 and 1/3 of the gauged sites were randomly considered for calibration and validation, respectively. The results highlight a good spatial distribution of the entropy parameter along channels, and a good estimation error level, especially for the regression and slope-elevation ϕ(M) models.