Selecting Temporal Precipitation Distributions for Watershed Modeling
Publication: Watershed Management 2010: Innovations in Watershed Management under Land Use and Climate Change
Abstract
In recent years the National Weather Service (NWS) has developed new precipitation-frequency information for major areas in the USA. Accompanying this information the NWS has presented temporal precipitation distribution curves for 6, 12, 14 and 96-hour durations. Engineers need to incorporate the latest NWS data into watershed models and need to understand how the selection of a temporal precipitation distribution can affect model results. This is particularly critical in arid and semi-arid watersheds where short duration precipitation has a large influence on peak flow rates. Some alternative methods of applying temporal distributions include use of a national or regional standardized distribution, a distribution curve obtained directly from the NWS studies, a distribution computed from storm frequency data with an assumed peak intensity position, and a distribution based on combining NWS distribution curves with storm frequency data. Selection of an appropriate temporal distribution will depend on watershed conditions.
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Copyright
© 2010 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Published online: Apr 26, 2012
ASCE Technical Topics:
- Arid lands
- Climates
- Curvature
- Engineering fundamentals
- Environmental engineering
- Flow (fluid dynamics)
- Flow rates
- Fluid dynamics
- Fluid mechanics
- Frequency distribution
- Geometry
- Hydrologic data
- Hydrologic engineering
- Hydrology
- Irrigation engineering
- Mathematics
- Meteorology
- Precipitation
- River engineering
- River systems
- Statistics
- Storms
- Water and water resources
- Watersheds
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