Time-Resolution of Rainfall Data and Its Role in the Hydrological Analyses

A special issue of Water (ISSN 2073-4441). This special issue belongs to the section "Hydrology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 March 2022) | Viewed by 14114

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Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Perugia, via G. Duranti 93, 06125 Perugia, Italy
Interests: water resource management; hydrological modeling; hydrology; hydrologic and water resource modeling and simulation; water balance; watershed hydrology; surface hydrology; watershed management; evapotranspiration; rainfall runoff modelling; flood modelling; rainfall; soil physics; watershed modeling; surface water; hydrological data management; evaporation; climate change and water; time domain reflectometry (TDR)
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E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Universita degli Studi di Perugia, Perugia, Italy
Interests: hydrological modeling; hydrology; water engineering; watershed hydrology; surface hydrology; rainfall runoff modelling; flood modelling; rainfall; open channel hydraulics; river engineering; time domain reflectometry
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Perugia, Via G. Duranti 93, 06125 Perugia, Italy
Interests: environment; water resource management; soil; hydrological modeling; hydrology; environmental engineering; water balance; watershed hydrology; meteorology; precipitation; rainfall; time domain reflectometry
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Rainfall data recorded by gauges provide key forcing in most hydrological studies. Depending on sensor type and recording systems, such data are characterized by different time-resolutions, ta.

For the rain gauge networks installed in the 19th century or during the first decades of the 20th century, recordings started in manual mode with coarse time-resolution. Mechanical recordings on paper rolls, with ta typically in the range 30 minutes-1 hour, began in the first half of the 20th century. Digital data logger registrations began during the last decades of 20th century, providing the possibility of any temporal aggregation, also equal to 1 minute. Most of older rain gauge networks have changed the registration methods during their lifetimes; in some cases they have been changed more than one time, from manual to mechanical and finally to digital.

It has been demonstrated that the use of annual maximum rainfall depth (Hd) series, for given durations, d, obtained from rainfall data characterized by coarse ta may produce significant errors in determining rainfall-depth-duration-frequency curves as well as in the most common methods to evaluate trend signals in intense rainfall. However, by using specific mathematical relationships between average underestimation error and the ratio ta/d, each Hd value may be corrected, obtaining Hd series which can then be reassessed for every analysis type.

All these issues should be considered in many geographical areas in the world.

Prof. Dr. Renato Morbidelli
Prof. Dr. Carla Saltalippi
Dr. Alessia Flammini
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • Rainfall data
  • Temporal aggregation
  • Annual maximum rainfall depths
  • Depth-duration-frequency curves
  • Extreme rainfall
  • Climate change
  • Trend analysis
  • Hydrology history

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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17 pages, 3067 KiB  
Article
Hazard Characterization of the Annual Maximum Daily Precipitation in the Southwestern Iberian Peninsula (1851–2021)
by Julia Morales, Leoncio García-Barrón, Mónica Aguilar-Alba and Arturo Sousa
Water 2022, 14(9), 1504; https://doi.org/10.3390/w14091504 - 07 May 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2084
Abstract
High-intensity rainfall can raise fluvial channel levels, increasing the risk of flooding. Maximum precipitation depths are used to estimate return periods and, thus, calculate the risk of this type of event. To improve these estimates in Southwest Europe, we studied the behavior of [...] Read more.
High-intensity rainfall can raise fluvial channel levels, increasing the risk of flooding. Maximum precipitation depths are used to estimate return periods and, thus, calculate the risk of this type of event. To improve these estimates in Southwest Europe, we studied the behavior of extreme rainfall using the historical records of San Fernando (Cádiz, southwest Spain), obtaining the maximum daily annual rainfall (period 1851–2021). Local risk levels for intense precipitation were established based on the mean values and standard deviation of daily precipitation. In this series, 38% of the years had some type of risk (>53.7 mm), of which 13% of these years had high risk (>73.2 mm) or disaster risk (>92.7 mm). In these risk thresholds, the maximum daily precipitation is mostly concentrated in the autumn months. The SQRT-ETMax model used fits well with the instrumental historical records for return periods of up to 25 years, although it may present appreciable deviations for longer return periods. Using a 170-year secular series, a more precise understanding of extreme periods and precipitation variability was obtained. Full article
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13 pages, 7937 KiB  
Article
Impacts of Rainfall Data Aggregation Time on Pluvial Flood Hazard in Urban Watersheds
by Marco Lompi, Paolo Tamagnone, Tommaso Pacetti, Renato Morbidelli and Enrica Caporali
Water 2022, 14(4), 544; https://doi.org/10.3390/w14040544 - 11 Feb 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2458
Abstract
Pluvial floods occur when heavy rainstorms cause the surcharge of the sewer network drainage, representing one of the most impacting natural hazard in urban watersheds. Pluvial flood hazard is usually assessed considering the effect of annual maxima rainfall of short duration, comparable with [...] Read more.
Pluvial floods occur when heavy rainstorms cause the surcharge of the sewer network drainage, representing one of the most impacting natural hazard in urban watersheds. Pluvial flood hazard is usually assessed considering the effect of annual maxima rainfall of short duration, comparable with the typical concentration times of small urban watersheds. However, short duration annual maxima can be affected by an error of underestimation due to the time resolution as well as the aggregation time of the rainfall time series. This study aims at determining the impact of rainfall data aggregation on pluvial flood hazard assessment. Tuscany region (Central Italy) is selected as a case study to perform the assessment of the annual maxima rainfall underestimation error, since the entire region has the same temporal aggregation of rainfall data. Pluvial flood hazard is then evaluated for an urban watershed in the city of Florence (Tuscany) comparing the results obtained using observed (uncorrected) and corrected annual maxima rainfall as meteorological forcing. The results show how the design of rainfall events with a duration of 30 min or shorter is significantly affected by the temporal aggregation, highlighting the importance of correcting annual maxima rainfall for a proper pluvial flood hazard evaluation. Full article
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16 pages, 1947 KiB  
Article
Effect of Time-Resolution of Rainfall Data on Trend Estimation for Annual Maximum Depths with a Duration of 24 Hours
by Renato Morbidelli, Carla Saltalippi, Jacopo Dari and Alessia Flammini
Water 2021, 13(22), 3264; https://doi.org/10.3390/w13223264 - 17 Nov 2021
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2714
Abstract
The main challenge of this paper is to demonstrate that one of the most frequently conducted analyses in the climate change field could be affected by significant errors, due to the use of rainfall data characterized by coarse time-resolution. In fact, in the [...] Read more.
The main challenge of this paper is to demonstrate that one of the most frequently conducted analyses in the climate change field could be affected by significant errors, due to the use of rainfall data characterized by coarse time-resolution. In fact, in the scientific literature, there are many studies to verify the possible impacts of climate change on extreme rainfall, and particularly on annual maximum rainfall depths, Hd, characterized by duration d equal to 24 h, due to the significant length of the corresponding series. Typically, these studies do not specify the temporal aggregation, ta, of the rainfall data on which maxima rely, although it is well known that the use of rainfall data with coarse ta can lead to significant underestimates of Hd. The effect of ta on the estimation of trends in annual maximum depths with d = 24 h, Hd=24 h, over the last 100 years is examined. We have used a published series of Hd=24 h derived by long-term historical rainfall observations with various temporal aggregations, due to the progress of recording systems through time, at 39 representative meteorological stations located in an inland region of Central Italy. Then, by using a recently developed mathematical relation between average underestimation error and the ratio ta/d, each Hd=24 h value has been corrected. Successively, commonly used climatic trend tests based on different approaches, including least-squares linear trend analysis, Mann–Kendall, and Sen’s method, have been applied to the “uncorrected” and “corrected” series. The results show that the underestimation of Hd=24 h values with coarse ta plays a significant role in the analysis of the effects of climatic change on extreme rainfalls. Specifically, the correction of the Hd=24 h values can change the sign of the trend from positive to negative. Furthermore, it has been observed that the innovative Sen’s method (based on a graphical approach) is less sensitive to corrections of the Hd values than the least-squares linear trend and the Mann–Kendall method. In any case, the analysis of Hd series containing potentially underestimated values, especially when d = 24 h, can lead to misleading results. Therefore, before conducting any trend analysis, Hd values determined from rainfall data characterized by coarse temporal resolution should always be corrected. Full article
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Review

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13 pages, 36965 KiB  
Review
A Review on Rainfall Data Resolution and Its Role in the Hydrological Practice
by Renato Morbidelli, Carla Saltalippi, Jacopo Dari and Alessia Flammini
Water 2021, 13(8), 1012; https://doi.org/10.3390/w13081012 - 07 Apr 2021
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 5782
Abstract
Data collected by gauges represent a fundamental force in most hydrological studies. On the basis of sensor type and recording system, such records are characterized by different aggregation time, ta. In this review paper, a comprehensive rainfall database of rain gauge [...] Read more.
Data collected by gauges represent a fundamental force in most hydrological studies. On the basis of sensor type and recording system, such records are characterized by different aggregation time, ta. In this review paper, a comprehensive rainfall database of rain gauge networks operative worldwide is used to determine the temporal evolution of ta. As a second step, issues related to the limited and heterogeneous temporal resolution of rainfall data are discussed with regard to avoiding possible errors in the analysis of historical series. Particular attention is focused on quantifying the effects on the estimation of extreme rainfalls that play a crucial role in designing hydraulic structures. To this aim, algebraic relations for improving a correct determination of extreme rainfall are also provided. Full article
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