Menyanthes®
Bridging the gap
between data
and hydrology
2
KWR Watercycle Research Institute
Menyanthes®
The experts at KWR Watercycle Research Institute are
at home in practically every aspect of the water cycle.
KWR is responsible for the joint research programme of
the Dutch water sector. KWR assists the water companies
in effectively answering their research questions, and
converts scientific answers into implementable solutions
that prove their value in practice. KWR Waterware® is
the product of 40 years of scientific research experience
carried out in close collaboration with our clients.
A number of factors can influence the groundwater level,
for example, precipitation, groundwater extraction or
the surface water level. Menyanthes® is a many-sided
computer program that allows hydrologists to quickly
and easily analyse the influence of external factors on the
groundwater level. It provides insight into the effect of
an intervention.
User-friendly tool
KWR Waterware®
KWR’s research focuses on four important subjects:
Healthy, Sustainable, Advanced and Efficient water.
In the course of this research, KWR regularly develops
software which, under the KWR Waterware® name, is
then further developed into user-friendly versions for our
clients. This brochure is dedicated to one specific software programme: Menyanthes®. Would you like to know
what KWR’s Menyanthes® can do for you? Then just
contact one of our consultants via www.waterware.nl.
With Menyanthes® every hydrologist and ecologist can
perform a time series analysis, without investing the
time or having the scientific expertise required by other
programs. This is thanks to the implementation in the
program of elementary information about the hydrologic
behaviour of groundwater systems. Menyanthes® helps
the user with a clear visual presentation during every
stage of the processing. It can use data in all kinds of
formats and also has a supplementary module – the
Diver and Data Management Toolbox – which permits
the efficient management and validation of measurement series from automatic pressure sensors.
Above | Spatial patterns in time
series analysis results literally add
a dimension to the technique.
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How does Menyanthes® work?
Data
The foundation of Menyanthes® is its own database, in
which data can easily be entered from external sources
like meteostations (accessible via the internet), from
database files from commonly used programmes, such
as DAWACO, DINO and from series entered in Excel. On
this basis, Menyanthes® can for example immediately:
• present the location of the monitoring wells on
a topographic or satellite image background;
• show a cross section with the depth position
of the piezometer filters;
• show a graphic indicating the development
of the groundwater level over time;
• process the data interactively;
• determine a variety of statistical properties of the
groundwater level series, such as duration lines
and regime curves.
polation to a fixed measurement interval or resampling.
The time series models are saved, and can easily be
adjusted or screened, for example, for their response
­functions, calibration statistics or statistical properties.
Diver and Data Management Toolbox
The Diver and Data Management Toolbox is a supple­
mentary module, through which Menyanthes® renders
the management of a high-frequency groundwater
­measurement network easy and clear. The toolbox reads,
and manages, the time series data registered by automatic ­pressure sensors. Manual measurements can also
be saved in the toolbox, and can be used for the validation
and possible correction of the pressure sensor data.
The toolbox thus delivers a wealth of reliable information.
After the validation, Menyanthes® is able to immediately
make time series models using the pressure sensor series.
Time series analysis
Because information on the hydrological system is
­implemented in Menyanthes®, it can efficiently model
time series with explanatory variables, such as precipitation (excess), evaporation, groundwater extraction and
surface water levels. It can also take (step) trends into
account. Menyanthes® furthermore offers the possibility
of conducting time series analyses using Box-Jenkins
models, and automatically carries out the required inter-
Introduction to Menyanthes®
Would you be interested in Menyanthes® for your
­organisation? KWR can organise an introduction course
for you onsite, so that you can work using your own data
and/or address problems that you face within your own
organisation.
Above | The depth and location
of the monitored locations
plays an important role in the
interpretation.
References
Menyanthes® was developed by KWR in collaboration
with Delft University of Technology, Alterra and Artesia.
The program’s development began in 2000 and, since
then, Menyanthes® has been used by more than 75
­organisations: water boards, provinces, municipalities,
water companies and nature conservation organizations.
KWR also applies it frequently in its own research.
The scientific background of Menyanthes® is described
in the following article: Von Asmuth, J.R., M.F.P. Bierkens
and K. Maas (2002), ‘Transfer-function noise modeling in
continuous time using predefined impulse response
­functions’, Water Resources Research, 38 (12), 1287,
doi:10.1029/2001WR001136. And in the following doctoral
thesis: J.R. von Asmuth (2012), ‘Groundwater System
­Identification through Time Series Analysis’, Ph.D. thesis,
Delft University of Technology, 5 March 2012.
Contact
Would you like to learn more
about KWR Watercycle Research
Institute and KWR Waterware®?
Then contact us.
us:
Postal address
KWR Watercycle Research
Institute
PO Box 1072
3430 BB Nieuwegein
The Netherlands
The name ‘Menyanthes’ comes from Menyanthes trifoliata,
which is the scientific name of the Marsh trefoil, a very
special small plant which is native to the Netherlands.
The program’s name makes reference to the three ‘leaves’
that constitute the research that KWR conducts in the
field of groundwater-table dynamics: time series analysis,
groundwater modelling and eco-hydrological modelling.
Menyanthes trifoliata is also associated with permanently
wet habitats or shallow waters in peat bogs, pools and
dune valleys. It is therefore an excellent symbol for the
close and dynamic relationship between hydrology and
ecology.
Contact: Jos von Asmuth
[email protected]
+31 (0)30 60 69 512
T +31 (0)30 60 69 511
F +31 (0)30 60 61 165
E [email protected]
I www.kwrwater.nl
I www.waterware.nl
@KWR_Water
Chamber of Commerce
27279653
Contact: Willem Jan Zaadnoordijk
[email protected]
+31 (0)30 60 69 597