Comparison of Rainfall Interpolation Methods in a Mountainous Region of a Tropical Island
Publication: Journal of Hydrologic Engineering
Volume 16, Issue 4
Abstract
A total of 21 gauges across the mountainous leeward portion of the island of Oʻahu, Hawaiʻi, were used to compare rainfall interpolation methods and assess rainfall spatial variability over a 34-month monitoring period from 2005 to 2008. Traditional and geostatistical interpolation methods, including Thiessen polygon, inverse distance weighting (IDW), linear regression, ordinary kriging (OK), and simple kriging with varying local means (SKlm), were used to estimate wet and dry season rainfall. The linear regression and SKlm methods were used to incorporate two types of exhaustive secondary information: (1) elevation extracted from a digital elevation model (DEM), and (2) distance to a regional rainfall maximum. The Thiessen method produced the highest error, whereas OK produced the lowest error in all but one period. The OK method produced more accurate predictions than linear regression of rainfall against elevation when the correlation between rainfall and elevation is moderate (). The SKlm method produced lower error than linear regression and IDW methods in all periods. Comparison of the OK interpolation map with gridded isohyet data indicate that the areas of greatest rainfall deficit were confined to the mountainous region of west Oʻahu.
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Acknowledgments
The project was supported by two grants from the U.S. Department of Agriculture: (1) Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service Grant No. UNSPECIFIED2004-34135-15058, (2) McIntire-Stennis formula Grant No. UNSPECIFIED2006-34135-17690. Special thanks to Nghia Dai Tran, Domingos Maria, Viktor Polyakov, Mohammad Safeeq, and Guanghong Yang for all their assistance with the field and database work. The writers wish to thank the Honolulu Board of Water Supply and members of Mohala I Ka Wai for their assistance and cooperation. Finally, the writers wish to thank three anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments.
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Information
Published In
Journal of Hydrologic Engineering
Volume 16 • Issue 4 • April 2011
Pages: 371 - 383
Copyright
© 2011 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Nov 30, 2009
Accepted: Sep 2, 2010
Published online: Oct 1, 2010
Published in print: Apr 1, 2011
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