Ground-Level Rainfall Variation in Jefferson County, Kentucky
Publication: Journal of Hydrologic Engineering
Volume 21, Issue 12
Abstract
In urban hydrology, accurate temporal and spatial rainfall observations are a key factor for managing urban hydrologic systems and stormwater runoff, particularly in the current era of higher variability in recent rainfall events. To study this issue, rain gauge data from a ground-based rainfall measurement network operated by the local stormwater management agency, Metropolitan Sewer District (MSD), in Jefferson County, Kentucky is evaluated. Rainfall spatial characteristics are evaluated through correlation spectrum by distance indicating a spatial rainfall variation concave relationship. The correlations at a 5-km distance are [0.63, 0.74, 0.80, and 0.86] for temporal resolutions of (15 min, 30 min, 1 h, and 3 h), respectively. A decreasing correlation with increased rainfall intensity is observed at temporal resolutions less than 1 h, and correlation increases at higher rainfall intensities and temporal resolution coarser than 1 h. This case study provides a context for the use of recent historical information to guide urban stormwater management planning through rain gauge deployment and detection of regional rainfall characteristics.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
This study was developed to support the mission of the Center for Infrastructure Research at the University of Louisville. The authors recognize and appreciate the reviewers for their comments and suggestions for improving this contribution.
References
Amburn, S. A., Lang, A. S. I. D., and Buonaiuto, M. A. (2015). “Precipitation forecasting with gamma distribution models for gridded precipitation events in eastern Oklahoma and northwestern Arkansas.” Weather Forecasting, 30(2), 349–367.
Chen, Y., Liu, H., An, J., Görsdorf, U., and Berger, F. H. (2015). “A field experiment on the small-scale variability of rainfall based on a network of micro rain radars and rain gauges.” J. Appl. Meteorol. Climatol., 54(1), 243–255.
Ciach, G. J. (2003). “Local random errors in tipping-bucket rain gauge measurements.” J. Atmos. Ocean. Technol., 20(5), 752–759.
Ciach, G. J., and Krajewski, W. F. (1999). “On the estimation of radar rainfall error variance.” Adv. Water Resour., 22(6), 585–595.
Ciach, G. J., and Krajewski, W. F. (2006). “Analysis and modeling of spatial correlation structure in small-scale rainfall in central Oklahoma.” Adv. Water Resour., 29(10), 1450–1463.
Einfalt, T., Hatzfeld, F., Wagner, A., Seltmann, J., Castro, D., and Frerichs, S. (2009). “URBAS: Forecasting and management of flash floods in urban areas.” Urban Water J., 6(5), 369–374.
Fencl, M., Rieckermann, J., Sýkora, P., Stránský, D., and Bareš, V. (2015). “Commercial microwave links instead of rain gauges: Fiction or reality?” Water Sci. Technol., 71(1), 31–37.
Ha, K. J., Jeon, E. H., and Oh, H. M. (2007). “Spatial and temporal characteristics of precipitation using an extensive network of ground gauge in the Korean peninsula.” Atmos. Res., 86(3–4), 330–339.
Habib, E., Haile, A. T., Tian, Y., and Joyce, R. J. (2012). “Evaluation of the high-resolution CMORPH satellite rainfall product using dense rain gauge observations and radar-based estimates.” J. Hydrometeorol., 13(6), 1784–1798.
Habib, E., and Krajewski, W. F. (2002). “Uncertainty analysis of the TRMM ground-validation radar rainfall products: Application to the TEFLUN-B field campaign.” J. Appl. Meteorol., 41(5), 558–572.
Habib, E., Krajewski, W. F., and Ciach, G. J. (2001). “Estimation of rainfall interstation correlation.” J. Hydrometeorol., 2(6), 621–629.
Humphrey, M. D., Istok, J. D., Lee, J. Y., Hevesi, J. A., and Flint, A. L. (1997). “A new method for automated dynamic calibration of tipping-bucket rain gauges.” J. Atmos. Oceanic Technol., 14(6), 1513–1519.
Hutchinson, T. P. (1997). “A comment on correlation in skewed distributions.” J. General Psychol., 124(2), 211–215.
Jung, Y., Kim, H., Baik, J., and Chio, M. (2014). “Rain-gauge network evaluation using spatiotemporal correlation structure for semi-mountainous regions.” Atmos. Oceanic Sci., 25(2), 267–278.
Karamouz, M., and Nazif, S. (2013). “Reliability-based flood management in urban watersheds considering climate change impacts.” J. Water Resour. Plann. Manage., 520–533.
Kowalski, C. J. (1972). “On the effect of non-normality on the distribution of the sample product-moment correlation coefficient.” Appl. Stat., 21(1), 1–12.
Krajewski, W. F., and Smith, J. A. (2002). “Radar hydrology: Rainfall estimation.” Adv. Water Resour., 25(8–12), 1387–1394.
Mandapaka, P. V., and Qin, X. (2013). “Analysis and characterization of probability distribution and small-scale spatial variability of rainfall in Singapore using a dense gauge network.” J. Appl. Meteorol. Climatol., 52(12), 2781–2796.
Menne, M. J., Durre, I., Vose, R. S., Gleason, B. E., and Houston, T. G. (2012). “An overview of the global historical climatology network-daily database.” J. Atmos. Oceanic Technol., 29(7), 897–910.
Nešpor, V., and Sevruk, B. (1999). “Estimation of wind-induced error of rainfall gauge measurements using a numerical simulation.” J. Atmos. Oceanic Technol., 16(4), 450–464.
Price, K., Purucker, S. T., Kraemer, S. R., Babendreier, J. E., and Knighters, C. D. (2014). “Comparison of radar and gauge precipitation data in watershed models across varying spatial and temporal scales.” Hydrol. Process., 28(9), 3505–3520.
Qin, X. S., and Lu, Y. (2014). “Study of climate change impact on flood frequencies: A combined weather generator and hydrological modeling approach.” J. Hydrometeorol., 15(3), 1205–1219.
Salathé, E. P., Jr., Hamlet, A. F., Mass, C. F., Lee, S., Stumbaugh, M., and Steed, R. (2014). “Estimates of twenty-first-century flood risk in the Pacific Northwest based on regional climate model simulations.” J. Hydrometeorol., 15(5), 1881–1899.
Scheuerer, M., and Hamill, T. M. (2015). “Statistical postprocessing of ensemble precipitation forecasts by fitting censored, shifted gamma distribution.” Monthly Weather Rev., 143(11), 4578–4596.
Seo, D. J., and Breidenbach, J. P. (2002). “Real-time correction of spatially nonuniform bias in radar rainfall data using rain gauge measurements.” J. Hydrometeorol., 3(2), 93–111.
Tokay, A., and Öztürk, K. (2012). “An experimental study of the small-scale variability of rainfall.” J. Hydrometeorol., 13(1), 351–365.
Villarini, G., Mandapaka, P. V., Krajewski, W. F., and Moore, R. J. (2008). “Rainfall and sampling uncertainties: A rain gauge perspective.” J. Geophys. Res. Atmos., 113(11), D11102.
Wang, J., Fisher, B. L., and Wolff, D. B. (2008). “Estimating rain rates from tipping-bucket rain gauge measurements.” J. Atmos. Oceanic Technol., 25(1), 43–56.
Wang, X., Liao, J., Zhang, J., Shen, C., Chen, W., Xia, B., and Wang, T. (2014). “A numeric study of regional climate change induced by urban expansion in the Pearl River delta, China.” J. Appl. Meteorol. Climatol., 53(2), 346–362.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Hydrologic Engineering
Volume 21 • Issue 12 • December 2016
Copyright
© 2016 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jun 19, 2015
Accepted: Jun 9, 2016
Published online: Jul 26, 2016
Published in print: Dec 1, 2016
Discussion open until: Dec 26, 2016
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.