MEASUREMENT AND PROCESSING OF PRECIPITATION DATA

• ESTIMATION OF MEAN AREAL PRECIPITATION IN

MOUNTAINOUS AREAS
• STORAGE OF PRECIPITATION DATA IN DATA BANK
• RAIN STORM ANALYSIS
ESTIMATION OF MEAN AREAL PRECIPITATION IN MOUNTAINOUS
AREAS

GENESIS P. MAGAT
CE-5G
 ESTIMATION OF MEAN AREAL PRECIPITATION IN
MOUNTAINOUS AREAS

• Precipitation data which exhibits appreciable spatial

variation over relatively short distance is often used as
areal estimate for use as input in hydrological models.
Several methods are commonly used for estimating
average precipitation over a specific area, such as a
drainage basin. The choice of the method is generally
dependent on the quality and nature of data, the
importance of its use and required precision of the result.
 ESTIMATION OF MEAN AREAL PRECIPITATION IN
MOUNTAINOUS AREAS

• Estimation of mean areal precipitation in mountainous

areas by the conventional methods does not yield the
desired results because of the influence of orography,
aspect, storm orientation, etc on the precipitation in areas
with pronounced orography. A better way of estimating
areal rainfall in mountainous regions is through the use of
isopercental technique.
 ESTIMATION OF MEAN AREAL PRECIPITATION IN
MOUNTAINOUS AREAS

• The isopercental method is very well suited to

incorporate long term seasonal orographical patterns in
drawing isohyets for individual storms or seasons. The
assumption is that the long term seasonal orographical
effect as displayed in the isohyets of season normal
applies for individual storms and seasons as well.
 The procedure involves the following
steps, and is worked out in Example 3.2:
1. Compute point rainfall as percentage of seasonal normal for all point rainfall stations.
2. Draw isopercentals (= lines of equal actual point rainfall to station normal rainfall) on
a transparent overlay.
3. Superimpose the overlay on the seasonal isohyetal map.
4. Mark each crossing of seasonal isohyets with isopercentals.
5. Multiply for each crossing the isohyet with the isopercental value and add the value
to the crossing on the map with the observed rainfall values; hence, the data set is
extended with the rainfall estimated derived in step 4.
6. Draw isohyets using linear interpolation while making use of all data points, i.E.
Observed and estimated data (see step 5).
Special attention is to be paid to situations where at the higher
elevations rain gauge stations
are non-existing. Then the orographic effect has to be extrapolated from
the lower reaches
of the mountains by estimating a relation between rainfall and elevation
which is assumed to
be valid for the higher elevations as well. Using this rainfall-elevation
curve a number of
points in the ungauged upper reaches are added to the point rainfall
data to guide the
interpolation process.
Determining % of earth’s surface above a
given elevation using hypsometric method:
Click icon to add picture

1.Find 0 km ( sea level) on the vertical

axis.
2.Draw a line across from zero km until it
reaches the hypsometric curve (the dark
red line).
3.Now drop a line until it intersects the
horizontal axis (between 20% and 40%).
4.The point is a little closer to 20% so lets
call it 29% of the earth’s surface is
above sea level.
The precipitation-elevation curve has to be prepared for
each storm, month, season or year, but its development will
be guided by the rainfall normal elevation curve also called
the orographic equation. Often the orographic equation can
be approximated by a simple linear relation of the form:
P(z) = a + bz
This relation may vary systematically in a region (e.g. the windward side
of a mountain range
may have a more rapid increase of precipitation with elevation than the
leeward side). In
such cases separate hypsometric curves and orographic equations are
established for the
distinguished sub-regions. The areal rainfall is estimated by:

where: P = areal rainfall

P(zi) = rainfall read from precipitation-elevation curve at elevation zi
ΔA(zi) = percentage of basin area contained within elevation zi ± 1/2Δzi
n = number of elevation interval in the hypsometric curve has been divided.
Example 3.2
In this example the application of the isopercental method is
demonstrated (NIH, 1988). The
areal rainfall for the storm of 30 August 1982 has to be determined for
the catchment shown
in Figure 3.7a. The total catchment area amounts 5,600 km2. The
observed and normal
annual rainfall amounts for the point rainfall stations in the area are
given in Table 3.3.
Figure 3.7a:
Isopercental
map
The intersections of the isopercentals and isohyets are identified and for
each intersection the isopercental is multiplied with the isohyet to get an
estimate of the storm rainfall for that point. These estimates are then
added to the point rainfall observations to draw the isohyets, see Figure
3.7b. The inter-isohyet area is planimetered and the areal rainfall is
subsequently computed with the aid of equation 3.4 as shown in Table
3.4.

Table 3.4: Computation of areal rainfall by isohyetal/isopercental method

equation 3.4
 Figure 3.7b:
Isohyetal map drawn
by
isopercental method
STORAGE OF PRECIPITATION
DATA IN DATA BANK
GENESIS P. MAGAT
CE-5G
 STORAGE OF PRECIPITATION DATA IN DATA BANK

• In India, precipitation data collected by central and state

organizations are stored in hard copy as well as on
computers. All the rainfall data collected by India
Meteorological Department (IMD) are transferred to
computers by the office of Additional Director General of
Meteorology (Research), IMD, Pune. Users can procure
precipitation and other meteorological data from IMD Pune
(www.imdpune.gov.in). In addition, processed precipitation
data are also available at some internet sites.
RAIN STORM ANALYSIS
GENESIS P. MAGAT
CE-5G
 RAIN STORM ANALYSIS

• While designing a dam, it is necessary that the outlet capacity is large

enough to safely pass a flood of certain magnitude. This critical flood is
known as the design flood for the structure. The type of the hydraulic
structure is the main criterion to decide the design flood hydrograph.
For this purpose, the structures are classified as:
• i) large or medium dams;
• ii) medium structures, such as barrages, road and railway bridges; and
• iii) small or minor structures, such as cross drainage works and minor
irrigation tanks and minor road bridges.
 RAIN STORM ANALYSIS

• If long-term runoff data are not available, rainfall data which are
generally available for a longer period are used to estimate the
design storm. This design storm is used with a suitable rainfall-
runoff model to obtain a design flood. The rainstorm analysis is the
first step in the design storm estimation procedure. The design
storm (rainfall) is a magnitude of rainfall and its distribution which
is developed for the design of specific types of structures. It has
three components, namely, the rainfall amount, the areal
distribution of rainfall, and the time distribution of rainfall.
 RAIN STORM ANALYSIS

• The Probable Maximum Precipitation (PMP) is defined as

“theoretically the greatest depth of precipitation for a
given duration that is physically possible over a given size
storm area at a particular geographical location at a
certain time of year”. The Standard Project Storm is
defined as that rain storm which is reasonably capable of
occurring in the region of problem basin. It is generally
the most severe rain storm which has occurred in the
region of the basin during the period of available records.
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