Hydrologic Synthesis Using Entropy Theory: Review

An entropy theory, comprising the Shannon entropy, the principle of maximum entropy, and the concentration theorem, has been applied in recent years to a wide range of problems in hydrology. From a hydrologic point of view, the applications can be organized into three classes: (1) physical, (2) statistical, and (3) mixed. This study focuses on the physical applications of the entropy theory, wherein the theory is coupled with the laws of mathematical physics and solutions are derived either in a time or space domain rather than the frequency domain. It is shown that a general framework can be developed to derive solutions to a wide range of seemingly disparate problems. The theory seems to have much potential that remains yet to be fully exploited.