BEGIN

1. BEGIN Precipitation as the Input

2. Some Huge Rainfalls

3. Precipitation As Input • Precipitation is generally “pre-processed” • Uniform in space and time – never! • Gages - Recording & non-recording • Radar • Satellite Derived • QPF

4. The Basic Process…. Necessary for a single basin Focus on Precipitation Excess Precip. Model Excess Precip. Basin “Routing” UHG Methods Runoff Hydrograph Excess Precip. Stream and/or Reservoir “Routing” Downstream Hydrograph Runoff Hydrograph

5. From A Basin View Excess Precip. Excess precip. is uniformly distributed! Excess Precip. Model Basin “Routing” Unit Hydrograph Runoff Hydrograph Stream “Routing”

6. Precipitation • ... primary "input" for the hydrologic cycle (or hydrologic budget). • … The patterns of the precipitation are affected by large scale global patterns, mesoscale patterns, "regional" patterns, and micro-climates. • … In addition to the quantity of precipitation, the spatial and temporal distributions of the precipitation have considerable effects on the hydrologic response.

7. Precipitation • … In lumped models, the precipitation is input in the form of average values over the basin. These average values are often referred to as mean aerial precipitation (MAP) values. • … MAP's are estimated either from 1) precipitation gage data or 2) NEXRAD precipitation fields (MAPX).

8. Precipitation (cont.) • … If precipitation gage data is used, then the MAP's are usually calculated by a weighting scheme. • … a gage (or set of gages) has influence over an area and the amount of rain having been recorded at a particular gage (or set of gages) is assigned to an area. • … Thiessen, isohyetal, and the inverse-distance squared are some of the more popular methods.

9. Precipitation Issues for the Hydrologist • Characteristics of precipitation in or on my basin(s)! • Quantity – How much are we getting? • Space – Where will it fall? • Time – When will it fall (and where)? • Integrity of the Data – Is this data valid?

10. Characteristics Convective, Frontal, Orographic, etc…

11. Convectional Storms.... • Thunderstorms are the classic example. • Warm moist air is rapidly lifted - making it unstable. • As the air lifts it cools and precipitation forms. • As the precipitation falls - it cools the air • This is why you may feel very cool bursts of air during those hot summer days when a thunderstorm kicks up.

12. Urban Areas & Thunderstorms... • It has been reported that urban areas may contribute to the development of thunderstorms due to the presence of a heat source and the typically darker areas.

13. Orographic Effects..... • Terrain can also cause lifting - which is a major component in the precipitation mechanism. • The mountains provide a lifting mechanism for the warm advecting moist air.

14. Orographic effects

15. Local Effects – e.g. the Great Lakes... Do lake effect events alter the volume of Lake Superior?

16. Ice.... • Hail, Rime, Sleet, and Graupel • Very difficult to measure • Antifreeze or heated gages

17. Snow, A Few Brief Points ..... • Snow or snowfall reaches the ground to form the snowpack. Snowpack is generally reported as snow depth. • We must also consider the snow water equivalent or SWE - WHY? NOAA Photo Library

18. SWE.... • SWE is reported as a ratio - i.e. 10:1 • Meaning 10 inches of snow equal 1 inch of water - when melted. • We also report this as density. • 10:1 would be a density of 10% or 0.1. • When is the snowfall most dense and least dense. • When is the pack most or least dense? NOAA Photo Library

19. Measuring Snow and SWE... • Snow gages • Snow tubes • Radar - VERY difficult!! - WHY?????

20. Quantity Measuring the Precipitation

21. Rainfall..... • Rainfall varies in both space and time • This is referred to as spatial and temporal variability. • Rainfall amounts vary considerably

22. Measuring Precipitation.... • Generally use rain gages • Measure depth • What are the problems with rain gages? • Point coverage... • Interference - wind, trees, etc... • How many others can you name? • Radar

23. Standard Gage(non-recording)

24. Fisher & Porter Tipping Bucket

25. Universal

26. Precipitation Gage Networks • A system of gages • Design Issues: • density • location • quality (of data) • collection & transmission • processing, filing, managing

27. Factors Affecting Density • Purpose of Network – Desired Quality/Precision/Accuracy • Finances – Installation and UPKEEP! • Nature of Precipitation – rain, rain + snow, orographic, convective, etc.. • Accessibility • to name a few.....

28. Network Densities • Many studies • Brakensiek et al., 1979 – Brakensiek, D. L., H. B. Osborn, and W. J. Rawls, cooridnators. 1979. Field Manual for research in Agricultural Hydrology. USDA, Agricultural Handbook, 224, 550 pp, illustrated.

29. Spatial Characteristics Where will it fall and how will I use it?

30. Precipitation in Models • … In lumped models, the precipitation is input in the form of average values over the basin. These average values are often referred to as mean aerial precipitation (MAP) values. • … MAP's are estimated either from: • 1) precipitation gage data or • 2) NEXRAD precipitation fields (MAPX).

31. Precipitation (cont.) • … The MAP's are usually calculated by a weighting scheme. • … a gage (or set of gages) has influence over an area and the amount of rain having been recorded at a particular gage (or set of gages) is assigned to an area. • … Thiessen, isohyetal, and the inverse-distance squared are some of the more popular methods.

32. Calculating Areal Averages.... • Arithmetic • Isohyetal • Theissen • Inverse Distance

33. Arithmetic....

34. Thiessen • Thiessen methodis a method for areally weighting rainfall through graphical means.

35. Isohyetal • Isohyetal methodis a method for areally weighting rainfall using contours of equal rainfall (isohyets).

36. Inverse-Distance Squared Used to compute average precipitation at any point based on nearby gages. The weight of the nearby gages is dependant on the distance from the point to each of the nearby gages. Gage A Gage B dA dB dC Gage C

37. Radar Precip. as Input • Radar gives a good picture of where it is raining - may indicate how to adjust the Unit Hydrograph for moving and partial area storms! • May also give good estimate of how much, BUT • Will differ from gages in total basin average. • Historical records are based on gages! • This makes calibration rather difficult.

38. WSR-88D • Weather Surveillance Radars - 1988 Doppler • 1st WSR-88D sites installed in 1991 • At the present time, there are more than 160 radars in place. • Should optimally provide coverage for a large percentage of the United States. • Optimally used because under many circumstances, the useful range of the radars varies considerably.

39. Locations

40. NEXRAD • Nexradis a method of areally weighting rainfall using satellite imaging of the intensity of the rain during a storm.

41. Temporal When will fall and where?

42. Temporal Distributions • Gages record data at intervals - 10 min., 15 min., 1 hour, 24 hour, etc.... • Models use the data at 1-hour, 6-hour, etc... • Must either aggregate or disaggregate precipitation amounts.... • i.e. Combine 1 hour values into a 6-hour value... Not a problem! • Or... Break a 24-hour value into 6 hour values... Much more difficult!

43. Temporal Disaggregation 24-hour gage 3.6 inches total 1 hour gage with 2.2 total inches and the following distribution: Distribute the 3.6 inches using the breakdown of the hourly gage

44. Intensity, Duration, & Frequency • Intensity, duration, & frequency • Duration - the length of time over which the rain falls. • Intensity - the rate at which the rain falls or the amount / duration. • Frequency - the frequency of occurrence - i.e. How rare is this storm? - We’ll get back to this..... • General relationships: • the greater the duration, the greater the amount • the greater the duration, the lower the intensity • the more frequent the storm, the the shorter the duration, and; • the more frequent the storm, the less the intensity

45. Let’s Look at at an Example First… Let’s compute the Rainfall/Runoff ratios for the Little J at Spruce Creek.

46. The Situation….

47. 1996 Totals

48. Some Issues • How to handle the missing data • Which basin averaging technique to use. • Gage Average • Thiessen • Isohyetal • Inverse Distance Weighting

49. Missing Data • Filling in missing data is a major issue. • In this case, we are filling it in space – not time. • There are many ways to fill in this data: • Averaging nearby stations • Weighting (averaging is a special case) • Isohyetal

50. The Missing Data • Averaging = 57.06 inches • Weighting would depend on local knowledge and would require creation of historical relationships between all of the local gages. • Isohyetal would imply that the value is closer to 62 to 63 inches – see next slide • For this exercise we will use 60 inches.