Rainfall data

ECV5405 SURFACE HYDROLOGY

Precipitation
• Precipitation can take many forms; raindrops, snow, sleet, hail and
mist.
• For hydrological designs, only rain and snow are important.
• For humid and dry countries like Malaysia, only rainfall is considered
to represent the precipitation process for hydrologic design.
• For Malaysia:
• Northeast Monsoon: November – February
• Southwest Monsoon: May – August
• Inter-monsoon seasons: March – April and September - October
• Mean monthly and annual
rainfall of sixteen stations
in peninsular Malaysia
(Wong et al., 2009).
Importance of rainfall data
analysis in hydrologic design
• High rate of rainfall can damage crops, or for an
urban area can caused flooding due to
improper/insufficient drainage facilities.
• Others?
This lecture will cover…
• Methods to collect rainfall data
• (Typical) Characterisation of rainfall data
• Estimating missing rainfall data
• Areal rainfall
• Inconsistency of rainfall data
• Moving average
Rainfall data collection
Rainfall data collection
• It is measured as a vertical depth of water on a horizontal ground
surface
• Units: cm, mm etc.
Presentation by students
Characterisation of rainfall data - Hyetograph
• Distribution of rainfall over time
according to actual storm events
(hyetograph)

• Based on records of rainfall over

known time intervals.

• Rainfall intensity: represented by

length per time (e.g. cm/hour).
 Characterisation of rainfall data – Mass curve
• Mass curve: plot of accumulated rainfall against time (usually in depth
per hour)
 Max. intensity – duration curve

• To analyse the relationship

between maximum intensity of
rainfall and the storm duration.

• It has been observed that most

intense storms last for a short
time.
Example
Estimating missing rainfall data
Estimating missing rainfall data
• Rainfall data that are missing can be estimated using
information from nearby stations.
• Available methods:
(1) Arithmetic average method – Total rainfall of nearby stations is
divided by the number of stations used
(2) Normal ratio method – using information of ‘normal annual
rainfall’
(3) Regression method – fit a straight line to a dataset.
Estimating missing rainfall data:
(1) Arithmetic average method:
𝑀
1
𝑃𝑥 = ෍ 𝑃𝑖
𝑀
𝑖
Where
▪ 𝑃𝑥 is the missing rainfall data
▪ 𝑀 is the number of nearby stations
▪ 𝑃𝑖 is the rainfall data of a particular station
Example
Estimating missing rainfall data:
(2) Normal ratio method:
𝑀
1 𝑁𝑥 𝑃𝑖
𝑃𝑥 = ෍
𝑀 𝑁𝑖
𝑖
Where
• 𝑥 is the station with missing data
• 𝑖 is stations with data
• 𝑀 is the number of stations with data
• 𝑁𝑥 is the normal annual rainfall for station 𝑥
• 𝑁𝑖 is the normal annual rainfall for station 𝑖
• 𝑃𝑖 is the rainfall data for station 𝑖
• The Arithmetic average method is preferred when the normal annual rainfall of the various
stations are within 10% of the normal annual rainfall of station 𝑥
Example
Estimating missing rainfall data:
(4) Regression
- A procedure for fitting an equation to a set of data.
- It allows the values of the coefficients of a straight line (intercept and gradient) to
be found based on the best fit line. The least square method can be used to
determine the coefficients:

𝑛 × 𝑎 + 𝑏 × ෍𝑥 = ෍𝑦

𝑎 × ෍ 𝑥 + 𝑏 ෍ 𝑥 2 = ෍ 𝑥𝑦

Where 𝑎 is the intercept, 𝑏 is the gradient, 𝑥, 𝑦 is the coordinates. 𝑛 is the

number of stations with data.
Example of a regression line

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA

Example
• Find out the missing storm precipitation of station C given in the
following table using (a) arithmetic average method, (b) Normal ratio
method:

Station A B C D E
Storm precipitation 9.7 8.3 - 11.7 8.0
(cm)
Normal annual 100.3 109.5 93.5 125.7 117.5
precipitation (cm)
Aerial rainfall
Areal rainfall
• Areal rainfall is a way to make a statement about the average
rainfall over an area

• A rainfall amount is described by the rainfall volume falling

on an area of land → hence rainfall depth can be
determined.

• the volume is equal to the depth multiplied by the watershed area.

• Rainfall depth is assumed to be uniform over the watershed.
Areal rainfall
• Methods of estimation:

1) Arithmetical mean method (station-average method)

2) Thiessen-mean method

3) Isohyetal method
Areal rainfall: (1) Arithmetic-mean record
▪ Used especially for area where variation is small: simple
average

𝑃1 +𝑃2 +⋯ +𝑃𝑖 +⋯+𝑃𝑛

ത
▪𝑃 =
𝑁
1 𝑁
= σ𝑖=1 𝑃𝑖
𝑁

• As a simple estimation
Areal rainfall: (2) Thiessen mean method
• The method assumes that
at any point in the
watershed, the rainfall is
the same as that of the
nearest gauge.
• The depth recorded at a
given gauge is applied out
to a distance halfway to
the next station in any
direction.
 Areal rainfall: (2) Thiessen mean method

𝑃1 𝐴1 + 𝑃2 𝐴2 + ⋯ + 𝑃𝑖 𝐴𝑖 + ⋯ + 𝑃𝑚 𝐴𝑚
𝑃ത =
𝐴1 + 𝐴2 + ⋯ 𝐴𝑖 + ⋯ + 𝐴𝑚

𝑀
1
= ෍ 𝑃𝑖 𝐴𝑖
𝐴
𝑖=1
 Areal average: (3) Isohyet method
• Isohyet: a line on a map connecting
points having the same amount of
rainfall in a given period (similar to
contours).

• Isohyetals map can be constructed

using computer programs for
automated contouring. The area
between contours is determined also
using the computer programs.
Isohyet of
Peninsular
Malaysia

Urban stormwater
management manual
Example of Areal rainfall estimations
Exercise
• Figure 2.25 shows a catchment with seven
rain gauge stations inside it and three
stations outside. The rainfall recorded by
each of these stations are indicated in the
figure. Calculate the mean precipitation by
(a) Thiessen mean method, (b) Arithmetic-
mean method
Inconsistency of rainfall data
Inconsistency of data
• Data inconsistency can happen due to several factors:

• Shifting of a rain gauge station to a new location

• Change in the ecosystem, for example due to landslides or

other calamities

• Observational errors from a certain date

Inconsistency of data
• A method called ‘double mass analysis’ can be used to check
for consistency

• The method comes from an assumption that all data from

that station comes from the same parent distribution, hence
should be consistent.
 Inconsistency of data
• The ‘corrected’ data: A change in slope indicates inconsistency

𝑀𝑐
𝑃𝑐𝑥 = 𝑃𝑥
𝑀𝑎

𝑃𝑥 =original recorded precipitation at

time period 𝑡1 at station 𝑥
𝑀𝑐
= ratio of the slope of the double-
𝑀𝑎
mass curve (corrected versus original)
Subramaniya, 2008
Example
Moving average
Moving average
• It is a technique to smooth out high fluctuations of rainfall time
series.

• The basic principle is that a window of a time range m years is

selected, and the average of data of that m year is calculated.

• This allows further analysis, such as trend detection.

Example

https://jennifermarohasy.com/2008/08/interpreting-eastern-
australian-rainfall-data/

Subramaniya, 2008
Example
TERIMA KASIH / THANK YOU
www.upm.edu.my