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Arora2006 Article SpatialDistributionAndSeasonal
Arora2006 Article SpatialDistributionAndSeasonal
DOI: 10.1007/s11269-006-8773-4
C Springer 2006
Abstract. The average distribution of precipitation provides essential input for understanding the
hydrological process. The role of complex topography in mountainous basins makes the spatial distri-
bution of precipitation different than the plain areas. Besides the rugged topography, the Himalayan
basins also face the problem of limited physical accessibility and data availability.
In this study, seasonal and annual distribution of rainfall with elevation and distance from the lower
most station (Akhnoor) has been studied for the Chenab basin (western Himalayas). The study basin
covers all the three ranges i.e. outer, middle and greater Himalayas. The rainfall stations are grouped
into windward and leeward categories. The trends of spatial distribution of rainfall are discussed
in detail. Attempts are also made to investigate the impact of reduced network on the mean annual
rainfall of the Chenab basin. A reduction in rain gauges from 42 to 19 has resulted in an increase in
the estimate of mean annual rainfall by 14% with respect to the estimate obtained using 42 stations
network.
Key words: rainfall distribution, Himalayas, elevation, distance, mean areal rainfall, kriging
Introduction
Information on precipitation distribution is needed for various hydrological ap-
plications such as realistic assessment of water resources, estimation of probable
maximum precipitation and hydrological modelling of the basin. Some of the most
significant data-related problems in mountainous basins are associated with the
measurement of precipitation depth and its spatial distribution. WMO (1986) made
a comparative study of various models and indicated that precipitation distribution
assumptions and determination of the form of precipitation were the most impor-
tant factors in producing accurate estimates of the runoff volume. Gan et al. (1997)
reported that in order to simulate/forecast the streamflow from a basin, good pre-
cipitation input is more important than the choice of complexity of the hydrological
model.
The distribution of precipitation is different in the mountainous areas than the
plain areas because of difference in their topography. In the mountainous basins,
weather systems interact with topography and result in highly non-uniform pre-
cipitation. Uplift of moisture laden air currents striking against a mountain barrier
490 M. ARORA ET AL.
provides a good precipitation on the windward side. Changes in rainfall with alti-
tude make the rainfall distribution more complex in mountainous area. A number
of studies have been carried out to understand the variation in precipitation with
altitude in different mountainous areas of the world (Clayton, 1982; Loukas and
Quick, 1994; Marquinez et al., 2003). Depending upon the relief of a mountain,
there may be a continuous increase in precipitation with altitude, and it may begin
to decrease above a particular altitude (Singh et al., 1995, Singh and Kumar, 1997).
Thus, orography plays an important role in precipitation distribution, which varies
significantly in space and time not only within a particular range, but also from one
mountain range to another. A precise understanding of climatic conditions in the
mountain regions is lacking because of poor observational network. Generally, a
poor assessment of spatial precipitation is made in the mountainous basins, because
of non availability of adequate network of precipitation gauges for recording the
variability of precipitation with altitude. Statistical and geostatistical techniques
have also been widely used for understanding the precipitation-elevation relation-
ship in the mountainous basins (Hayward and Clarke, 1996; Sen and Zeyad, 2000;
Martinez-Cob, 1995). Therefore, estimation of mean rainfall for the mountainous
basin needs special attention (Wilk and Anderson, 2000).
In Indian context, about 35% of the total geographical area of the country is
mountainous and out of this about 58% is covered by the mighty Himalayas. De-
tailed studies to assess the orographic effect on precipitation in the Himalayan region
are lacking due to various reasons. Singh et al. (1995) and Singh and Kumar (1997)
studied the precipitation distribution in the mountainous basins located in different
parts of Himalayan region. In these studies main emphasis was laid to study the
effect of altitude on precipitation distribution. Dhar et al. (2000) reviewed the pre-
cipitation studies carried out for high altitude regions of Himalayas. In the present
study, changes in rainfall distribution are studied with elevation and distance for
the Chenab basin located in western Himalayan region.
1974 to 1990 and 19 stations for the period from 1974 to 1998 have been used.
Figure 1 shows the Chenab basin with raingauge network.
Outer Himalayas
The outer Himalayan range of this study basin includes six rainfall stations. The
numbers of stations on the windward and leeward side of this range are 4 and 2
respectively. The elevation range of these stations varies from 305 m to 1000 m.
On the windward side, two stations (Paoni, 600 m and Salal, 610 m) at about the
same elevation, receive different intensity and magnitude of rainfall because of
Table I. Seasonal distribution of average rainfall in different ranges of the Himalayas
Distance in km. Rain (mm)
Elevation with respect
Range Station in meters to Akhnoor Post-monsoon Winter Pre-monsoon Monsoon Annual
Outer Himalaya (Windward) Akhnoor 305 0.0 78.4 233.3 165.4 1036.3 1513.5
Paoni 600 21.4 144.2 381.6 243.4 1654.2 2423.3
Salal 610 29.8 169.2 523.5 260.2 806.0 1758.8
Gainta 1000 27.2 180.9 555.3 238.8 748.6 1723.6
Average 143.2 423.4 227.0 1061.3 1854.8
Outer Himalaya (Leeward) Damni 885 47.9 195.0 657.4 332.5 679.0 1863.9
Dhamkund 640 57.5 171.2 573.2 232.5 361.1 1338
Average 183.1 615.3 282.5 520.0 1601
Average (Outer Himalaya) 163.2 519.4 254.8 790.7 1727.9
Middle Himalaya (Windward) Darabshala 1095 100.7 94.9 321.6 165.9 227.0 890.3
Doda 1140 82.4 119.5 393.1 185.4 180.8 878.8
Rot 1375 66.6 141.4 374.3 318.7 317.3 1151.8
Nandan 1910 54.8 227.8 396.3 421.6 1465.8 2511.6
Gohala 2400 72.3 43.5 140.7 101.1 144.5 429.7
Thana 2440 85.0 31.3 42.2 95.4 107.6 276.5
SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION AND SEASONAL VARIABILITY OF RAINFALL
Table I. (Continued)
Distance in km. Rain (mm)
Elevation with respect
Range Station in meters to Akhnoor Post-monsoon Winter Pre-monsoon Monsoon Annual
Chingaon 1840 99.0 115.9 241.9 324.2 347.2 1029.3
Dusadudha 2440 116.8 58.5 134.8 168.3 352.0 713.6
Devigol 2450 115.4 35.1 114.1 165.0 341.1 655.3
Bunnencha 2600 107.9 58.4 128.9 209.5 390.8 787.7
Average 86.2 223.9 235.0 308.0 853.1
Average ( Middle Himalaya) 98.0 251.0 224.9 357.6 938.1
Greater Himalaya Sohal 2000 175.5 50.3 103.9 123.3 119.6 397.1
Yurod 2165 135.0 36.7 90.4 164.1 171.4 462.4
Udaipur 2600 212.2 16.7 9.2 142.5 143.4 311.8
Tandi 3100 250.9 9.4 0.4 97.6 144.2 251.6
Average (Greater Himalaya) 28.3 51.0 131.9 144.7 355.7
M. ARORA ET AL.
SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION AND SEASONAL VARIABILITY OF RAINFALL 495
their location and exposure. Salal is located between the ridges, whereas Paoni,
like Akhnoor and Gainta, is located on the exposed side of the ridge and receive
maximum moisture content.
The variation in rainfall with elevation on seasonal and annual scale for the
windward and leeward sides of this range is shown in Figure 3. Although the data
for one station on windward side, namely, Gainta (1000 m) are available for a
limited period from 1974 to 1990. However, these are included to ascertain the
trend of rainfall distribution. It is observed that rainfall in the windward side of
outer Himalayas increases linearly with elevation during winter season. While the
trends in the post-monsoon, pre-monsoon and monsoon seasons show that there
is an increase in rainfall up to certain elevation and then it starts decreasing. Salal
and Paoni, located at about the same altitude receive significantly different rainfall
during monsoon. The average annual rainfall observed at Salal is 1759 mm, whereas
for Paoni it is 2423 mm. As the contribution of monsoon rainfall on the windward
side is about 57% of the annual total, the same trend is reflected in annual rainfall.
Seasonal and annual rainfall for different stations and average rainfall of different
ranges are given in Table I. As the data of only 2 stations were available on the
leeward side, the trend could not be established for the leeward side. However the
total rainfall on the leeward side is found to be higher than windward side for all
seasons except the monsoon season. This may be possible due to spill over effects of
rainfall in the outer Himalayas, where altitude of mountain barrier is not very high.
During winter, pre-monsoon and post-monsoon seasons, the moisture contents in
the air are less in comparison with monsoon season, and the clouds precipitate
at higher ranges after crossing the mountain barrier. It results in high rainfall at
higher elevation stations on the leeward side. A significant drop in rainfall at lower
stations on the leeward side is possible due to the fact that after precipitating at
higher altitudes, a little moisture is left in the clouds to precipitate at lower altitudes.
Also, winter rains, which make second largest contribution in annual rainfall and
even largest contribution in some cases, follow western disturbances approaching
from northwest. In contrast, during monsoon, the situation is entirely different,
the moisture content in the air is much higher than other seasons and the clouds
precipitate relatively at lower elevations on the windward side.
The monsoon rainfall is the major contributor (45%) to the annual rainfall on
the windward as well as leeward sides of the outer Himalayan range (Table I).
Thus it influences the annual rainfall significantly and guides the distribution with
elevation. Annual rainfall (1855 mm) on the windward stations is higher than that
at the leeward stations (1601 mm), indicates that a reasonably high rainfall occurs
on both sides of the mountain range with an average value of 1728 mm. Coefficient
of variation (Cv ) for seasonal and annual rainfall for all the stations in the different
Himalayan ranges are computed and given in Table II. In outer Himalayas, the
variability in seasonal rainfall is higher than annual rainfall. Post-monsoon season
shows the maximum variability in rainfall. The windward stations exhibit higher
variability than the leeward stations except for monsoon season.
496 M. ARORA ET AL.
Figure 3. Variation in rainfall with elevation on the windward and leeward sides of the outer
Himalayan range.
SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION AND SEASONAL VARIABILITY OF RAINFALL 497
Table II. Coefficient of variation (Cv ) for seasonal and annual rainfall of outer, middle and
greater Himalayan stations
Middle Himalayas
Rainfall records of 10 stations were available for the analysis in the middle
Himalayan range. Four stations are located on the windward side and six are on
the leeward side. The average annual rainfall in middle Himalayan range is about
938 mm. The value of Cv is higher during post-monsoon season for both windward
and leeward sides as compared to the other seasons. The annual rainfall values
have lower Cv than that of the seasonal rainfall indicating less variability in annual
rainfall.
498 M. ARORA ET AL.
Figure 4. Variation in rainfall with distance on the windward and leeward sides of the outer
Himalayan range.
Table III. Governing equations describing the annual rainfall distribution in the outer, middle and greater
Himalayan ranges of the study basin
Greater Himalayas
Data for four rainfall stations in the Greater Himalayas are available for the analysis
and these stations are located on the windward side. The elevation of the stations
varies between 2000 m and 3100 m. The stations are located in such a way that they
covered major area of the basin and had more inter-station distance in comparison
to that in the other ranges. Average annual rainfall in the Greater Himalayas is
found to be 356 mm. Monsoon season contributed maximum (41%) to the annual
rainfall. The value of Cv in the Greater Himalayan range for one station namely,
Tandi (3100 m) is higher during post-monsoon and winter seasons. In general the
monsoon season shows higher variability in rainfall.
The variations of rainfall with elevation are represented in Figure 8. Results show
that the rainfall decreases exponentially with elevation for the post-monsoon, winter
and annual rainfall. In the pre-monsoon season rainfall decreases with elevation and
no clear trend is observed in monsoon season. This may be attributed to the fact
that at higher elevations a major part of precipitation falls in the form of snowfall.
The distributions of rainfall with distance are represented in Figure 9. These figures
show the similar trends as observed for that of variation with elevation. In this
range variation of rainfall with distance is explained better (R 2 = 0.98, where R 2
is coefficient of determination).
SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION AND SEASONAL VARIABILITY OF RAINFALL 501
Figure 5. Variation in rainfall with elevation on the windward and leeward sides of middle
Himalayan range.
502 M. ARORA ET AL.
Figure 6. Variation in rainfall with distance on the windward and leeward sides of middle
Himalayan range.
SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION AND SEASONAL VARIABILITY OF RAINFALL 503
Figure 8. Variation in rainfall with elevation on the windward side of greater Himalayan range.
reduced network will be available for the future hydrological studies in the basin,
for the accurate mean annual rainfall estimates, the computed mean annual rainfall
using reduced network should be reduced by 14%. The contour maps obtained after
interpolation are shown in Figure 10.
SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION AND SEASONAL VARIABILITY OF RAINFALL 505
Figure 9. Variation in rainfall with distance on the windward side of greater Himalayan range.
Conclusion
Precipitation distribution for the Himalayas is poorly known as compared with many
other mountains of the world. In the present study, seasonal and annual distribution
506 M. ARORA ET AL.
rainfall for the Chenab basin is studied. In this study area, the precipitation is caused
by different weather systems during different seasons of a year and varies from
place to place because of highly rugged topography of the Himalayan mountains.
Depending upon the availability of rainfall data, the rainfall stations are grouped
with respect to ranges and aspect. The variability and trends exhibited by different
ranges are given in the following table.
Outer
Windward Monsoon (1061 mm) 57 Second order The distribution and
polynomial in all magnitude of annual
seasons and annual rainfall is guided by
scale monsoon season rainfall
Leeward Winter (615 mm) 38 – The average rainfall in
seasons other than
monsoon are more in
comparison to
windward stations
(Continued on next page)
SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION AND SEASONAL VARIABILITY OF RAINFALL 507
(Continued)
Himalayan Seasonal maximum % of
range rainfall contribution Total Trends Correlation factors
Middle
Windward Monsoon (407 mm) 38 Second order The distribution and
polynomial in all magnitude of annual
seasons and annual rainfall is guided by
scale monsoon season
rainfall
Leeward Monsoon (308 mm) 36 Linear in post-monsoon Except pre-monsoon,
and winter seasons. the average rainfall
Second order in other seasons are
polynomial in other less in comparison
seasons and annual to windward
scale stations
Greater Monsoon (145 mm) 41 Exponential decrease in No clear trend is
post-monsoon, winter obtained in
and annual. Linear monsoon season
decrease in possibly because
pre-monsoon and no higher elevations
trend in monsoon receive major part
of precipitation in
form of snowfall
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