# Time Series Predictions in Unmonitored Sites: A Survey of Machine Learning Techniques in Water Resources

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2308.09766 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.09766/

## Key facts

- Cited by 6 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 59 of its 272 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 18 Aug 2023.

## Builds on (most cited first, 30 of 59)

- [Attention Is All You Need](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1706.03762/) (2017)
- [Dropout as a Bayesian Approximation: Representing Model Uncertainty in Deep Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1506.02142/) (2015)
- [A Comprehensive Survey on Graph Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1901.00596/) (2019)
- [Fourier Neural Operator for Parametric Partial Differential Equations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2010.08895/) (2020)
- [Empirical Evaluation of Gated Recurrent Neural Networks on Sequence Modeling](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1412.3555/) (2014)
- [Graph Neural Networks: A Review of Methods and Applications](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1812.08434/) (2018)
- [Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI): Concepts, Taxonomies, Opportunities and Challenges toward Responsible AI](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1910.10045/) (2019)
- [Relational inductive biases, deep learning, and graph networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1806.01261/) (2018)
- [A Comprehensive Survey on Transfer Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1911.02685/) (2019)
- [Geometric deep learning: going beyond Euclidean data](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1611.08097/) (2016)
- [Graph WaveNet for Deep Spatial-Temporal Graph Modeling](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1906.00121/) (2019)
- [A Review of Uncertainty Quantification in Deep Learning: Techniques, Applications and Challenges](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2011.06225/) (2020)
- [FourCastNet: A Global Data-driven High-resolution Weather Model using Adaptive Fourier Neural Operators](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2202.11214/) (2022)
- [GNNExplainer: Generating Explanations for Graph Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1903.03894/) (2019)
- [The Mythos of Model Interpretability](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1606.03490/) (2016)
- [Temporal Convolutional Networks for Action Segmentation and Detection](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1611.05267/) (2016)
- [Transformers in Time Series: A Survey](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2202.07125/) (2022)
- [Structured Sequence Modeling with Graph Convolutional Recurrent Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1612.07659/) (2016)
- [Adaptive Fourier Neural Operators: Efficient Token Mixers for Transformers](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2111.13587/) (2021)
- [FCNs in the Wild: Pixel-level Adversarial and Constraint-based Adaptation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1612.02649/) (2016)
- [Theory-guided Data Science: A New Paradigm for Scientific Discovery from Data](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1612.08544/) (2016)
- [Integrating Scientific Knowledge with Machine Learning for Engineering and Environmental Systems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2003.04919/) (2020)
- [Using Simulation and Domain Adaptation to Improve Efficiency of Deep Robotic Grasping](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1709.07857/) (2017)
- [Physics-guided Neural Networks (PGNN): An Application in Lake Temperature Modeling](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1710.11431/) (2017)
- [Towards Learning Universal, Regional, and Local Hydrological Behaviors via Machine-Learning Applied to Large-Sample Datasets](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1907.08456/) (2019)
- [Physics-Informed Neural Networks for Multiphysics Data Assimilation with Application to Subsurface Transport](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1912.02968/) (2019)
- [Graph Neural Networks for temporal graphs: State of the art, open challenges, and opportunities](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2302.01018/) (2023)
- [Physics-Guided Machine Learning for Scientific Discovery: An Application in Simulating Lake Temperature Profiles](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2001.11086/) (2020)
- [A trans-disciplinary review of deep learning research for water resources scientists](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1712.02162/) (2017)
- [Physically Interpretable Neural Networks for the Geosciences: Applications to Earth System Variability](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1912.01752/) (2019)

## Built on by (most cited first, 6 of 6)

- [The Power of Explainability in Forecast-Informed Deep Learning Models for Flood Mitigation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.19166/) (2023)
- [HydroDiffusion: Diffusion-Based Probabilistic Streamflow Forecasting with a State Space Backbone](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2512.12183/) (2025)
- [Domain Adaptation for Sustainable Soil Management using Causal and Contrastive Constraint Minimization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2401.07175/) (2024)
- [HydroGAT: Distributed Heterogeneous Graph Attention Transformer for Spatiotemporal Flood Prediction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2509.02481/) (2025)
- [GREAT: Generalizable Representation Enhancement via Auxiliary Transformations for Zero-Shot Environmental Prediction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2511.13469/) (2025)
- [Bridging the Clinical Expertise Gap: Development of a Web-Based Platform for Accessible Time Series Forecasting and Analysis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2512.07992/) (2025)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Prediction of dynamic environmental variables in unmonitored sites remains a long-standing challenge for water resources science. The majority of the world's freshwater resources have inadequate monitoring of critical environmental variables needed for management. Yet, the need to have widespread predictions of hydrological variables such as river flow and water quality has become increasingly urgent due to climate and land use change over the past decades, and their associated impacts on water resources. Modern machine learning methods increasingly outperform their process-based and empirical model counterparts for hydrologic time series prediction with their ability to extract information from large, diverse data sets. We review relevant state-of-the art applications of machine learning for streamflow, water quality, and other water resources prediction and discuss opportunities to improve the use of machine learning with emerging methods for incorporating watershed characteristics into deep learning models, transfer learning, and incorporating process knowledge into machine learning models. The analysis here suggests most prior efforts have been focused on deep learning learning frameworks built on many sites for predictions at daily time scales in the United States, but that comparisons between different classes of machine learning methods are few and inadequate. We identify several open questions for time series predictions in unmonitored sites that include incorporating dynamic inputs and site characteristics, mechanistic understanding and spatial context, and explainable AI techniques in modern machine learning frameworks.