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Transformation of point rainfall to areal rainfall by estimating areal reduction factors, using radar data, for Texas

Information about extreme precipitation is of great interest for a variety of
purposes, which include dam design and its operation, public safety, engineering projects
concerned with river management and drainage as well as rainfall-runoff relations. These
require knowledge about the spatial and temporal variability of average rainfall over an
area. Design rainfall values are generally expressed in the form of point rainfall intensity
values which is the rainfall depth at a location. In order to obtain areal average values for
an area, hydrologists and engineers require techniques whereby point rainfall amounts
can be transformed to average rainfall amounts over a specified area. This problem of
point-to-area rainfall conversion can be addressed using depth??area curves which require
the use of areal reduction factors. The derivation of areal reduction factors is a focal issue
and has been dealt with in diverse manners. Though the methods of derivation of the
areal reduction factors vary, results shown by them are comparable. But all these methods
have certain shortcomings in the procedures adopted by them. In this application the
analysis is based on radar rainfall values obtained from NEXRAD for the study area of
Texas as provided by West Gulf River Forecasting Centre (WGRFC). Using NEXRADradar rainfall data, geographically fixed depth area relationships will be determined. Here
the objectives are to develop areal reduction factors using radar data and to identify the
potential obstacles that might hinder the use of such data. The values of the factors
developed will be finally compared to other studies which have been carried out. This
approach aims to mitigate the difficulties faced in the applications of various procedures
and the shortcomings of the various techniques used to determine the values of areal
reduction factors.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:tamu.edu/oai:repository.tamu.edu:1969.1/2420
Date29 August 2005
CreatorsGill, Tarun Deep
ContributorsOlivera, Francisco
PublisherTexas A&M University
Source SetsTexas A and M University
Languageen_US
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeBook, Thesis, Electronic Thesis, text
Format3002244 bytes, electronic, application/pdf, born digital

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