Exploration of an adaptive merging scheme for optimal precipitation estimation over ungauged urban catchment

Abstract

General rightsThis document is made available in accordance with publisher policies. Please cite only the published version using the reference above. Full terms of use are available: http://www.bristol.ac.uk/pure/about/ebr-terms ABSTRACTMerging raingauge-radar data improves the accuracy of precipitation estimation for urban areas. Since the rain gauge network around the ungauged urban catchment is fixed, the relevant research question is about the optimal merging area that produces the best rainfall estimation inside the catchment. To answer this, an incremental radar-gauge merging performed by gradually increasing: the distance from the centre of the study area, the number of merging gauges around it and the radar domain. The proposed adaptive merging scheme is applied to a small urban catchment in west Yorkshire, Northern England for 118 extreme events from 2007 to 2009. The performance of the scheme is assessed using four experimental raingauges installed inside the study area. The result shows that there is indeed an optimum radar-gauge merging area and consequently there is an optimum number of rain gauges that produce the best merged rainfall data inside the study area. Different merging methods produce different results for both classified and unclassified rainfall types. Although the scheme was applied on daily data, it's applicable to other temporal resolutions.This study is of important value for other studies such as urban flooding analysis, since it provides improved rainfall estimation for ungauged urban catchment.

Rainfall Spatial Estimations: A Review from Spatial Interpolation to Multi-Source Data Merging

“…Nanding et al [171] compared radar-gauge rainfall merging methods, such as KED and KRE, and found that the KED produced a better effect and was less affected by the density and configuration of rain gauges. McKee et al [172], Rodriguez et al [173], and Fadhel et al [174] all stated that radar-gauge rainfall merging results were simultaneously decided by multiple factors such as the quality of radar rainfall, the distribution of rain gauges, the merging algorithm, and the precipitation type.…”