Practical No.

1
 CONSISTANCY OF PRECIPITATION DATA
BY DOUBLE MASS CURVE ANALYSIS

Double mass curve analysis is a commonly used data

analysis approach for investigating the behavior of
records made of hydrological or meteorological data
at a number of locations.

 NVB 2
 It is used to determine whether there is a need
for corrections to the data to account for
changes in data collection procedures or other
local conditions.

Causes for inconsistency are:

1) Changes in gauge location
2) Changes in surrounding conditions
3) Changes in instrumentation
4) Changes in observation procedures
 NVB 3
 Double mass analysis used for checking
consistency of a hydrological or
meteorological record and is considered to be
an essential tool before taking it for analysis
purpose.

 NVB 4
ARK 5
 DOUBLE MASS ANALYSIS

The double mass curve is obtained by plotting

 X-axis ≈ Average accumulated precipitation of
nearby stations
 Y-axis ≈ Accumulated precipitation of the station
under consideration

 NVB 6
 Procedure
~ Arrange the data in reverse chronological (recent to
past) order

~ Determine cumulative rain fall of the subjected

station and of the nearby stations

~ Draw double mass curve

~ Part of the curve which lies in straight line requires

no correction

 NVB 7
 ~ All data lying after the deviation point from the
straight line requires correction

~ To determine correction factor calculate the slope

of the curve before and after the point of deviation

 NVB 8
 DOUBLE MASS ANALYSIS

~ Pa =Adjusted precipitation
~ Po =Observed precipitation
~ Sa =Slope prior to the break in the curve
~ So =Slope after the break in the curve

 NVB 9
 EXAMPLE 1
~ Check consistency of the data and correct if
inconsistent

 NVB 10
 annual rain at Cumulative avg annual rainfall cumulative avg annual
year station X (mm) rainfall at at nearby station rainfall at nearby
station X (mm) stations
1972 188 188 264 264
1971 185 373 228 492
1970 310 683 386 878
1969 295 978 297 1175
1968 208 1186 284 1459
1967 287 1473 350 1809
1966 183 1656 236 2045
1965 304 1960 371 2416
1964 228 2188 234 2650
1963 216 2404 290 2940
1962 224 2628 282 3222
1961 203 2831 246 3468
1960 284 3115 264 3732
1959 295 3410 332 4064
1958 206 3616 231 4295
1957 269 3885 234 4529
1956 241 4126 231 4760
1955 284 4410 312 5072
1954 223 4633 360 5432
 ARK 11
 annual rain at Cumulative avg annual rainfall cumulative avg annual
year station X rainfall at at nearby station rainfall at nearby
(mm) station X (mm) stations

1953 173 4806 234 5666

1952 282 5088 333 5999
1951 218 5306 236 6235
1950 246 5552 251 6486
1949 284 5836 284 6770
1948 493 6329 361 7131
1947 320 6649 282 7413
1946 274 6923 252 7665
1945 322 7245 274 7939
1944 437 7682 302 8241
1943 389 8071 350 8591
1942 305 8376 228 8819
1941 320 8696 312 9131
1940 328 9024 284 9415
1939 308 9332 315 9730
1938 302 9634 280 10010
1937 414 10048 343 10353
 NVB 12
12000
Engineering Hydrology (CE- 235)

10000
Cumulative rainfall at stations X

9415, 9024
8000 Point of
deviation
7665, 6923
6000

YEAR 1950

4000

4064, 3410
2000

2045, 1656
Cumulative rainfall at nearby stations
0
 ARK
0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000 13
12000
 CALCULATION OF SLOPE

 NVB 14
 CALCULATION OF SLOPE

 NVB 15
 Correction factor

Applicable to the data before 1950

 NVB 16
 Corrected precipitation
1949 198.8
1948 252.7
1947 197.4
1946 176.4
1945 191.8
1944 211.4
1943 245
1942 159.6
1941 218.4
1940 198.8
1939 220.5
1938 196
 NVB
1937 240.1 17
12000

10000
Actual data
curve
Cumulative rainfall at stations X

8000

6000

Corrected
4000 data curve

2000

Cumulative rainfall at nearby stations

0
0 2000 4000 6000
ARK 8000 10000 12000
18
 EXAMPLE 2
~ The annual precipitation at station ‘A’ and the
average precipitation at 15 surrounding
stations are given in table 3.19 find
~ Consistency of the record at station ‘A’
~ Indicate the year in which there is a regime
changes

 NVB 19
 annual avg annual
annual avg annual rain at rainfall at
rain at rainfall at year station nearby
year station X nearby X station
station (mm) (mm)
(mm) (mm) 1981 36 27.5
1980 42 19.5
1990 36 60.5 1979 42 36.5
1978 36 57
1989 42 44 1977 69.5 55
1988 36 24 1976 62.5 22
1987 12 49.5 1975 50.5 60
1974 21.5 25
1986 48 47.5 1973 16 27.5
1985 54 38.5 1972 90 57
1984 30 38.5 1971 50.5 71.5
1983 18 55
20
1982 42 60.5
  Calculate cumulative rain fall of station A and
near by stations
 Draw curve of cumulative rainfall
 Determine point of deviation
 Calculate slope before and after deviation
 Apply correction to the points lying after the
deviation

 NVB 21
 Computation of Average
Rainfall over a Basin

 ARK 22
 Computation methods
 Arithmetic Average Method
 Thiessen Polygon Method
 Distance weighting
 Isohyetal Method

 ARK 23
 Arithmetic mean method
 If rainfall is uniformly distributed in areal
pattern then this is the simplest method to
estimate average rainfall over a catchment
 If P1, P2, P3, … Pn etc are the precipitation or
rainfall values measured at ‘n’ gauge stations,
then

 ARK 24
 Arithmetic mean method

Pavg 
P1  P2  ......  Pn
 P
n n

 ARK 25
 Example
~ Six rain gauges were installed in a relatively
flat area and storm precipitation from these
gauges were recorded as 3.7, 4.9, 6.8, 11.4, 7.6
and 12.7 cm respectively from gauges 1, 2
….6
~ Find average precipitation

 ARK 26
 Thiessen polygon method

 Rainfall recorded by each rain gauge weighted

according to the area it is assumed to represent
 It is also called Weighted Mean Method

 ARK 27
 Thiessen polygon method

Gauge no / Precipitation Area AxP

name (cm) (Km^2)
1 25 64 1600
2 31 100 3100
... … …

 ARK 28
 Thiessen polygon method

 ARK 29
 Steps for polygon

~ Draw area according to certain scale

~ Connect all gauging stations

 ARK 30
 ARK 31
 Steps for polygon

~ Draw perpendicular bisectors of all the lines

joining the rain gauge network

 ARK 32
 ARK 33
 Steps for polygon
~ Measure area of each polygon
~ Calculate average precipitation

 ARK 34
 ARK 35
 Distance weighting
~ This method is based on the distance between
the centroid of basin and gauge
~ The weight given to the precipitation is
inversely proportional to the square of the
distance between centroid of basin and gauge
point

 ARK 36
 Isohyetal method
~ An isohyet is a line on a rainfall map of the
basin, joining places of equal rainfall readings
~ An isohyetal map shows contours of equal
rainfall on the ground
~ Gives more accurate picture of rainfall
distribution

 ARK 37
 Engineering Hydrology (CE- 235)

 ARK 38
 Isohyetal method
~ Draw map of area
~ Indicate points of rain gauges
~ Write rainfall value at gauge points
~ Draw isohyets
~ Measure area enclosed or b/w every two
isohyets

 ARK 39
 Isohyetal method
Isohyet Mean isohyetal Area b/w AxP
range value (cm) isohyets (Km^2)
<6 5.5 (assume) 10 55
6-7 6.5 50 325
7-8 7.5 70 525
8-9 8.5 60 510
9-10 9.5 50 475
>10 10.5 (assumed) 30 315

 ARK 40
ARK 41