KMJ26403 HYDROLOGY AND WATER RESOURCES ENGINEERING

PRECIPITATION DATA
MEASUREMENT AND ANALYSIS
Mrs Siti Kamariah Md Sa’at
FTKK, UniMAP
  “Water present in the atmosphere
either as a solid (snow, hail), liquid
Precipitation (rain) or gas (fog, mist)”
  Storm:
 A kind of severe weather marked by hard
wind, thunder, lighting, heavy precipitation,
wind transporting some substance thro the
atmosphere.

 Precipitation:
Some definition  Any product of the condensation (rain/snow)
of atmospheric water vapour that is fall on the
Earth’s surface

 Rainfall:
 Rain is liquid precipitation. It is the
condensation of atmospheric water vapour
into drops heavy enough to fall.
  Rain: water drop
 Drizzle: fine sprinkle of water drops
 Sleet: frozen raindrop of transparent grain
Form of  Snow: ice crystal which combine to form
Precipitation flakes
 Hailstones: irregular pellets or lumps of
ice
  Convective: A common form is the summer
thunderstorm. Very intense, short duration & wide area
distribution
 Orographic: Warmer air rises over a high mountain
range & meets cooler air. Precipitation occurs when
rising air mass has a condensation level.
 Cyclone: Caused by the rising of air mass as it
Types of Rainfall converges on an area of low pressure
 Seedling rainfall (due to drought)

Can truly know the types of rainfall from the videos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWsVKqut1ks
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWZ5_0wcYJ0
  Rainfall due to the fast movement of moist air to an
area of low pressure
 The wind direction rotates anticlockwise for
Northern Hemisphere and clockwise for Southern
hemisphere
 Hurricane, typhoon, etc. Eg. Greg Cyclone
 Tropical cyclone: can be occurred where the
Cyclone Rainfall surface temperature is greater than 29oC & wind
speed is 75 mph.
  Quantitative data for rainfall events is essential
to size the hydraulic structures & storage
systems.
 It is important to understand how these data are
developed.
Interpretation &  Intensity (i): Rate of rainfall- an average value for
Quantification of a given duration (mm/hr)
data  Duration (t): The time over which the rain falls
(hr)
 Frequency: how often will an event of certain
magnitude (or size) & duration occur
 Return Period (T): recurrence interval (yr).
Usually in ARI
  Mass Curve
 Rainfall depth versus time
 As from recording chart from automatic rain gage
and data logger

 Rainfall intensity
Rainfall Data  Rainfall depth per unit time
 Slope of the mass curve
Presentation
 Rainfall hyetograph
 Rainfall intensity Versus time
 Intensity-Duration-Frequency Curve
 Relationship between rainfall intensity and
duration and frequency of that particular intensity
 Cumulative Rainfall

Rainfall Mass Curve

Mass curve  The mass curve of rainfall is a plot of the cumulative depth of
rainfall against time, plotted in chronological order.
 The steepness of the curve indicates the intensity of rainfall.
 The horizontal line of the curve indicates that there is no rainfall
during that period.
 Mass curve is directly plotted in float type and weighing bucket
type raingauge.
 From the mass curve, the total depth of rainfall and intensity of
rainfall at any instant of time can be found.
  A graphical representation of the
distribution of rainfall depth/intensity
over the total duration of the storm event.
 Eg: in the 24-hour rainfall distributions,
rainfall intensity increases until it reaches
a maximum & then gradually decreases.
Hyetograph  It is very easy to represent the
characteristics of a storm and it is useful
in the development of design storms to
predict extreme floods.
 The area under a hyetograph represents
the total rainfall received in that period.
 Incremental Rainfall
0.8

0.7

Incremental Rainfall (in per 5 min)

0.6

0.5

0.4

0.3

0.2

0.1

0
5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100 105 110 115 120 125 130 135 140 145 150

Time (min)

Rainfall Hyetograph
  IDF Curve is an important input to many hydrologic design
 Three variables: Intensity (depth/time), Duration (time) and
Frequency of rainfall of a station
 Frequency defined,
Intensity-  Exceedence probability (p): the probability that an event having a
Duration- specified volume and duration will be exceeded in one time

Frequency Curve period.

 Return period (T): the average length of time between events
having the same volume and duration.

 P = 1/T
 Eg: A Rainfall event: 2 mm depth, 2 minutes duration,
occurring every 2 years. The probability of the rainfall event to
happen at any one year is 0.5 or 50%.
  Fitting coefficients, a, b, k and x can be
obtained using linearization of equation (A)
& (B) and simultaneous equations
 Let: y=1/i, f=b/a and g=1/a
–Eq(A) becomes y = f + g(t)
 Let: y=log i, h=log k and z=log t
–Eq(B) becomes y =h + x z
Intensity of
rainfall Example:
Rain 1: i= 4.1 cm/hr, t=10 min;
Rain 2: i=0.81 cm/hr, t=2 hrs;
By solving equation (A) and (B) we get:
a=1.850
b=0.0831
k=……..
x =……..
  The mass curve of rainfall of storm of total duration 270
minutes is given below:
a. Draw the hyetograph of the storm at 30 minutes time
step

b. Plot the maximum depth-duration-curve for the storm

Time start 0 30 60 90 120 150 180 210 240 270

Example 2.3 in min

Cumulative 0 6 18 21 36 43 49 52 53 54
rainfall
(mm)
Time start in min 30 60 90 120 150 180 210 240 270
Cumulative rainfall 6 18 21 36 43 49 52 53 54
(mm)
Incremental depth 6 12 3 15 7 6 3 1 1
of rainfall interval
(mm)
Intensity (mm/hr) 12 24 6 30 14 12 6 2 2

Hyetograph of the storm

Hyetograph

Rainfall Intensity (mm/hr)

35
30
30
24
25
20
14
15 12 12
10 6 6
5 2 2
0
30 60 90 120 150 180 210 240 270
Time since start (min)
 Incremental depth of rainfall (mm) in various durations
Table 2.7a: Durations (min)
Maximum
Time Cumulative 30 60 90 120 150 180 210 240 270
Intensity-Duration (min) Rainfall (mm)
Relation
0 0
30 6 6
60 18 12 18

Intensity- 90
120
21
36
3
15
15
18
21
30 36
Depth- 150 43 7 22 25 37 43
Duration 180 49 6 13 28 31 43 49

Relation 210 52 3 9 52
240 53 1 4 53
270 54 1 2 54
Maximum Intensity 30.0 22.0 20.0 18.5 17.2 16.3 14.9 13.3 12
(mm/hr)
Table 2.7b:
Maximum Duration (min) 30 60 90 120 150 180 210 240 270
Intensity-Maximum Max depth (mm) 15 22 30 37 43 49 52 53 54
Depth-Duration
Relation
  Plot the graph

Con’t
  Rainfall record: hourly, daily, weekly, monthly,
yearly (annual)
 Rainfall record: Total, max, min, mean
(average)
 Rainfall records must complete and sufficient
before further analysis can be made to be
Rainfall Data used in engineering design
Analysis  Based on two concept:
 Point Rainfall
 Rainfall data for one rainfall station
 Catchment < 50 km2 depend
 Areal Precipitation
 Rainfall data based on area based on point
rainfall record
  It is also known as station rainfall.
 The rainfall data of a particular station is
known as point rainfall.
 This rainfall data can be presented as daily,
Point Rainfall weekly, monthly, seasonal or annual values
for various periods.
 It is graphically presented as plots of
magnitude vs chronological time in the form
of bar diagram.
  Missing data analysis
 A complete data set for a particular rainfall
Point Rainfall station is without missing data
 If there is missing data, effort must be
made to fill-up the missing data
  Some precipitation stations may have short
breaks in the records because of absence of the
observer or because of instrumental failures.
 The station whose data is missing is called
Rainfall Data: interpolation station and gauging stations
whose data are used to calculate the missing
Estimation of station data are called index stations (in our
Missing Data case, use Station X)
 To estimate the missing data, can use
1. Arithmetic mean method
2. Normal ratio method
3. Quadrant method
  If rainfall data of station X is missing then to find out the
missing rainfall data Px;

 Where
Arithmetic mean  PA, PB, PC, PD = Rainfall data available at nearby station in
method cm
 A, B, C, D, X = Rain gauge Station
 n = Number of rain gauge station where data is available
 Rainfall data of at least three rain gauge is required.
 Px should be within 10% of the normal annual rainfall of
the index stations.

 Rain gauge stations should be evenly distributed around

the missing station & as close as possible.
  If the normal precipitation vary considerably, then Px is
estimated by weighing the precipitation at the various
stations by the ratios of normal annual precipitations.
 This method, known as normal ratio methods, gives Px
as

Normal Ratio  Where:

method  n = Number of station involve

 Px = Missing data, i.e. Monthly rainfall data for station X
 NX = average annual rainfall for Station X
 NA, NB, NC = average annual rainfall for station A, B, and C
 PA, PB, PC = monthly rainfall for station A, B and C
  Rain-gauge station D was inoperative for part of a month
during which a storm occurred. The storm rainfall recorded in
the three surrounding stations A, B and C were 8.5, 6.7 and 9.0
cm, respectively. If the average annual rainfall for the stations
are 75, 84, 70 and 90 cm, respectively, estimate the storm
rainfall at station D.
Example 2.1
Can also refer  Solution:

Example 2.2 in  By equating the ratios of storm rainfall to the average annual
rainfall at each station, the storm rainfall at station D is
textbook estimated as:
  The previous method do not consider the following
factors:
 The distance between the station
 The density of the rainfall station
 Quadrant method is to overcome such problem

Quadrant
method
a) Divide the catchment area with known rainfall record (Pi) into
quadrant

b) Draw (x-x) and (y-y) ordinate in such a way that the ordinates
intersects at Station X (missing station)
c) Determine the distance (d) between station X and any other
station
d) For each quadrant, choose only one station, i.e the nearest to
Station X

e) Calculate the weightage for each station using formula

f) Multiply the weightage factor to its rainfall value (Wi)(Pi)
g) The sum of (Wi)(Pi) is equal to the missing value X
Example
Solution
  A consistent rainfall records are required for
a good design
 •Therefore, consistency test should be
conducted from time to time
 Inconsistent rainfall record caused by:
Consistency of –Station transfer
rainfall record –Surrounding change
–Equipment, procedures change

 This is part of the screening process of

hydrological data for stationary, consistent
and homogenous
  Is a method for testing the consistency of rainfall record of a
station
 Using rainfall record from the neighboring stations as
references
 This technique is based on the principle that when each
recorded data comes from the same parent population, they
are consistent.
Double mass  Procedures:
curve a.Obtain annual rainfall record for station X
b.Obtain average annual rainfall record from several stations
c.Plot a graph-Cumulative of (a) versus Cumulative of total (b)
d.From the plot, identify 2 straight curve of different slopes
(Slope S1and S2)
e.The intersection point is considered as point of change
 Compute adjustment factor, S1/S2
 Adjust the rainfall record by multiplying the adjustment
factor:
 Y’1=(S2/S1)Y1or
 Y’2 = (S1/S2)Y2
 where,
 Y’1,Y’2=adjusted record for StationX
 S1=slope of line before the change
 S2=slope of line after the change a
 Y1,Y2=original record for StationX
  Annual rainfall data for station M as well as the
average annual rainfall values for a group of ten
neighboring stations located in a
meteorologically homogeneous region are given
below:
 Refer Table of Example 2.3 in textbook

Example 2.2
 Test the consistency of the annual rainfall data
of station M and correct the record if there any
discrepancy. Estimate the mean annual rainfall
at Station M
Break 2 S1
1
=1.02
S2 =
0.8779
S1/S2 =
1.173
  Most engineering project involve area/regional
development
 Therefore, rainfall record must be in the form of ‘areal’
Areal  Unfortunately, rainfall record can only be obtained
precipitation through point measurement (point rainfall)
 Thus, point value must be converted into areal value
 Predicting watershed response to a given precipitation
event requires knowledge of the average rainfall that
occurs over the watershed in a specified duration
 This involves design of a network of rain gauges
  Not many rain gauges are needed specially in flat
watersheds
 Three basic methods exist to derive areal averaged
Areal values from point rainfall data:
 Arithmetic mean
precipitation  Thiessen polygon method
 Isohyetal method
 Areal precipitation can also be estimated based on radar
estimates, specially in areas without the presence of
adequate rain gauges
  Simplest method for determining areal
average
1 N P1
P=
N
∑P
i =1
i

P2
P1 = 10 mm

Arithmetic P2 = 20 mm
P3
Mean Method P3 = 30 mm

10 + 20 + 30
P= = 20 mm
3

• Gages must be uniformly distributed

• Gage measurements should not vary greatly about the mean
• Applied to smaller watersheds
• Rainfall distributions are not variable
 P1 = 10 mm, A1 = 12 Km2
P1
P2 = 20 mm, A2 = 15 Km2
A1
P3 = 30 mm, A3 = 20 km2
P2
1 N
P = ∑ Ai Pi
A i =1
A2
12 ×10 + 15 × 20 + 20 × 30
P= = 20.7 mm P3
47
A3
Thiessen polygon
method
Steps in Thiessen polygon method
1. Draw lines joining adjacent gages
2. Draw perpendicular bisectors to the lines
created in step 1
 Any point in the watershed receives the same 3. Extend the lines created in step 2 in both
amount of rainfall as that at the nearest gage directions to form representative areas for
 Rainfall recorded at a gage can be applied to gages
any point at a distance halfway to the next station 4. Compute representative area for each gage
5. Compute the areal average using the formula
in any direction
  In a catchment area, approximated by a circle of
diameter 100 km, four rainfall stations are situated
inside the catchment and one station outside in his
neighborhood. The coordinate of the center of the
catchment is (100,100)and of the five station are given
in Table below. Determine the average annual rainfall
by Thiessen-mean method.

Example 2.4 Station 1 2 3 4 5

Coordinate (30,80) (70,100) (100,140) (130,100) (100,70)
Precipitation 85.0 135.2 95.3 146.4 102.2
  The catchment area is drawn to scale and marked the
station
 Join the station to form a sets of triangles.
 Identify the Thiessen polygon area using planimeter of
using overlay grid (graph paper).

Solution
Station Boundary
Area Fraction Rainfall Weighted
of area (km2) of total P (cm)
area
1 -
2 abcd 2141 0.2726
3 dce 1609 0.2049
4 ecbf 2141 0.2726
5 fba 1963 0.2499
Total 121.84
  When rainfall is highly variable, or when high
accuracy is required more rain gages are needed
 Iso-hyetal method involves drawing of contour
lines with equal rainfall depth (iso-hyets)It’s a
little arbitrary to make iso-hyets and may require

Isohyetal experience

method  Topography and storm patterns are helpful in

making iso-hyets
 Rainfall calculation is based on finding average
rainfall between each pair of contours,
multiplying by the between them, totaling these
products and dividing by total area
Isohyet map
  Steps
 Construct isohyets (rainfall contours)
 Compute area between each pair of adjacent
isohyets (Ai)
 Compute average precipitation for each pair of
adjacent isohyets (pi)
 Compute areal average using the following formula
10

Isohyetal method 20
P1
A1=5 , p1 = 5
1 N
P = ∑ Ai Pi A2=18 , p2 = 15

A i =1 P2
A3=12 , p3 = 25
5 × 5 + 18 ×15 + 12 × 25 + 12 × 35
P= = 21.6 mm
47 P3
30 A4=12 , p3 = 35
  The isohyets due to a storm in a catchment were drawn in
Figure 2.14 and the are of catchment bounded by isohyets
were tabulated as below. Estimate the precipitation due to
storm.

Isohyets Area (km)

(cm)
Station-10 30
Example 2.5 12-10 140

10-8 80

8-6 180

6-4 20
 Isohyet Average Area Fraction Weighted
value of (km2) of area P (cm)
P (cm) (3) /450 (2) X (4)
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5)
12 12
12-10 11
10-8 9

Solution 8-6
6-4
7
5
Total 8.84 cm
  The following are the rain gauge observations during a storm.
Construct:
a) mass curve of precipitation,
b) hyetograph,
c) maximum intensity-duration curve and develop a formula, and
d) maximum depth-duration curve.

Exercise
 Thank You

 Any question?