scholarly journals Estimating extreme dry spell risk in Ichkeul Lake Basin (Northern Tunisia): a comparative analysis of annual maxima series with a Gumbel distribution

Author(s):  
Majid Mathlouthi ◽  
Fethi Lebdi

Abstract. This paper analyses a 42 year time series of daily precipitation in Ichkeul Lake Basin (northern Tunisia) in order to predict extreme dry-spell risk. Dry events are considered as a sequence of dry days separated by rainfall events from each other. Thus the rainy season is defined as a series of rainfall and subsequent dry events. Rainfall events are defined as the uninterrupted sequence of rainy days, when at last on one day more than a threshold amount of rainfall has been observed. A comparison of observed and estimated maximum dry events (42 year return period) showed that Gumbel distribution fitted to annual maximum series gives better results than the exponential (E) distribution combined with partial duration series (PDS). Indeed, the classical Gumbel approach slightly underestimated the empirical duration of dry events. The AMS–G approach was successfully applied in the study of extreme hydro-climatic variable values. The results reported here could be applied in estimating climatic drought risks in other geographical areas.

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (12) ◽  
Author(s):  
Majid Mathlouthi ◽  
Fethi Lebdi

Abstract Abstract In agriculture, the characterization of dry spells is essential whether it is to calibrate the water needs of crops or the flow rates of rivers. This study seeks to develop a discretization of dry and wet spells on a monthly scale while evaluating the risk of extremes using the renewal wet-dry spell model. This model consists of defining the wet spell according a negligible precipitation threshold. The structure of the model is that all parameters of the climate cycle, including its length, are random variables. To study the trend of the parameters we use the Mann–Kendall test, while the magnitude is evaluated by the Sen’s estimation method. The approach is applied to Ichkeul Lake basin in northern Tunisia to demonstrate its capacity. This region is of great agricultural and water importance, although it holds six large dams. The results show that the duration of the dry and wet spells reach’s, respectively, 49 days and 17 days. The maximum dry spell was 49 days in 1982. The Mann–Kendall test revealed three stations with significant positive trend of the monthly extreme dry spell length (at March) located in south and east of the basin. The trend analysis of the seasonal rainfall number showed one station with significant negative trend in east and one station with significant negative trend in the center of the basin. Results indicated that no significant changes in the start and end of rainy season have occurred over the past years. But a great relation with a subsequent length exists. The results of this research assist farmers and managers in establishing drought management plans. It allow, among other things, to calibrate simulation models for a more realistic management of water reservoirs. It also makes it possible to plan irrigations on a more different basis from that of observations made at regular time intervals. Highlights We analyze the trends of the drought in Ichkeul lake basin, Northern Tunisia, characterized from the daily rainfall data of five stations. The alternating wet-dry spell model and a precipitation threshold value are used to define the rainfall/dry event. The Mann–Kendall test and the Sen’s estimation method were used to analyze the possible trends and the magnitude of variables analyzed, respectively. The results show an increasing trend of maximum monthly dry spells. No significant changes in the start and end of rainy season have occurred over the past years. These analyses provide useful information for science and society and make it possible to minimize unexpected damage due to long dry spells and to have effective and efficient planning for various stakeholders.


2013 ◽  
Vol 17 (11) ◽  
pp. 4481-4502 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Hwang ◽  
W. D. Graham

Abstract. There are a number of statistical techniques that downscale coarse climate information from general circulation models (GCMs). However, many of them do not reproduce the small-scale spatial variability of precipitation exhibited by the observed meteorological data, which is an important factor for predicting hydrologic response to climatic forcing. In this study a new downscaling technique (Bias-Correction and Stochastic Analog method; BCSA) was developed to produce stochastic realizations of bias-corrected daily GCM precipitation fields that preserve both the spatial autocorrelation structure of observed daily precipitation sequences and the observed temporal frequency distribution of daily rainfall over space. We used the BCSA method to downscale 4 different daily GCM precipitation predictions from 1961 to 1999 over the state of Florida, and compared the skill of the method to results obtained with the commonly used bias-correction and spatial disaggregation (BCSD) approach, a modified version of BCSD which reverses the order of spatial disaggregation and bias-correction (SDBC), and the bias-correction and constructed analog (BCCA) method. Spatial and temporal statistics, transition probabilities, wet/dry spell lengths, spatial correlation indices, and variograms for wet (June through September) and dry (October through May) seasons were calculated for each method. Results showed that (1) BCCA underestimated mean daily precipitation for both wet and dry seasons while the BCSD, SDBC and BCSA methods accurately reproduced these characteristics, (2) the BCSD and BCCA methods underestimated temporal variability of daily precipitation and thus did not reproduce daily precipitation standard deviations, transition probabilities or wet/dry spell lengths as well as the SDBC and BCSA methods, and (3) the BCSD, BCCA and SDBC methods underestimated spatial variability in daily precipitation resulting in underprediction of spatial variance and overprediction of spatial correlation, whereas the new stochastic technique (BCSA) replicated observed spatial statistics for both the wet and dry seasons. This study underscores the need to carefully select a downscaling method that reproduces all precipitation characteristics important for the hydrologic system under consideration if local hydrologic impacts of climate variability and change are going to be reasonably predicted. For low-relief, rainfall-dominated watersheds, where reproducing small-scale spatiotemporal precipitation variability is important, the BCSA method is recommended for use over the BCSD, BCCA, or SDBC methods.


1996 ◽  
Vol 32 (9) ◽  
pp. 2803-2823 ◽  
Author(s):  
Upmanu Lall ◽  
Balaji Rajagopalan ◽  
David G. Tarboton

2012 ◽  
Vol 610-613 ◽  
pp. 1099-1102 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhen Wang ◽  
Qi Zhang ◽  
Xiu Li Xu ◽  
Hai Ying Gao

Suspended sediment (SS) is one of the important parameters quantifying the degree of water pollution. In order to explore the spatiotemporal variation of the SS in Le’an river catchment, an important sub-catchment of Poyang lake basin, a total of 17 sampling points at rivers were selected for observations. Results show that, the concentration of SS is quite different across the catchment. The average concentration of SS in the upstream of the catchment with forest as the dominant land use, is 6.92mg/L, while the concentration in the downstream with a certain percentage of arable land is 14.39mg/L. The SS concentration shows an increasing trend from the upstream to the downstream, in correlation with the change of land uses. Also there exists a considerable deviation of the SS concentration in different seasons. The concentration in summer is relatively high, while lower in other seasons, with a likely relationship to rainfall events.


2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 388-411 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hamed Tavakolifar ◽  
Ebrahim Shahghasemi ◽  
Sara Nazif

Climate change has impacted all phenomena in the hydrologic cycle, especially extreme events. General circulation models (GCMs) are used to investigate climate change impacts but because of their low resolution, downscaling methods are developed to provide data with high enough resolution for regional studies from GCM outputs. The performance of rainfall downscaling methods is commonly acceptable in preserving average characteristics, but they do not preserve the extreme event characteristics especially rainfall amount and distribution. In this study, a novel downscaling method called synoptic statistical downscaling model is proposed for daily precipitation downscaling with an emphasis on extreme event characteristics preservation. The proposed model is applied to a region located in central Iran. The results show that the developed model can downscale all percentiles of precipitation events with an acceptable performance and there is no assumption about the similarity of future rainfall data with the historical observations. The outputs of CCSM4 GCM for two representative concentration pathways (RCPs) of RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 are used to investigate the climate change impacts in the study region. The results show 40% and 30% increase in the number of extreme rainfall events under RCP4.5 and RCP8.5, respectively.


Irriga ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 109-115
Author(s):  
LORENA JÚLIO GONÇALVES ◽  
CRISTIANO TAGLIAFERRE ◽  
MANOEL NELSON DE CASTRO FILHO ◽  
RODRIGO LACERDA BRITO NETO ◽  
BISMARC LOPES DA SILVA ◽  
...  

DETERMINAÇÃO DA EQUAÇÃO INTENSIDADE-DURAÇÃO-FREQUÊNCIA PARA ALGUMAS LOCALIDADES DO ESTADO DA BAHIA     LORENA JÚLIO GONÇALVES1; CRISTIANO TAGLIAFERRE2; MANOEL NELSON DE CASTRO FILHO3; RODRIGO LACERDA BRITO NETO4; BISMARC LOPES DA SILVA5 E FELIZARDO ADENILSON ROCHA6   1 Departamento de Engenharia Agrícola e Solos da Universidade Estadual do Sudoeste da Bahia (UESB); Estrada do Bem Querer, Km 04; Caixa Postal 95; CEP 45031-900, Vitória da Conquista – BA, [email protected]; 2 Departamento de Engenharia Agrícola e Solos da Universidade Estadual do Sudoeste da Bahia (UESB); Estrada do Bem Querer, Km 04; Caixa Postal 95; CEP 45031-900, Vitória da Conquista – BA, [email protected]; 3 Departamento de Agronomia da Universidade Federal de Viçosa (UFV); Avenida Peter Henry Rolfs, s/n, Campus Universitário; CEP 36570-900; Viçosa – MG; [email protected]; 4 Mestre em Ciências Florestais pela Universidade Estadual do Sudoeste da Bahia (UESB); Rua Madureira, n° 160, Bairro Primavera; CEP 45700-000, Itapetinga – B; [email protected]; 5 Departamento de Engenharia Agrícola e Solos da Universidade Estadual do Sudoeste da Bahia (UESB); Estrada do Bem Querer, Km 04; Caixa Postal 95; CEP 45031-900, Vitória da Conquista – BA, [email protected]; 6 Instituto Federal da Bahia/ Campus Avançado de Vitória da Conquista; Avenida Sérgio Vieira de Mello, n° 3150, Bairro Zabelê; CEP 45075-265, Vitória da Conquista – BA, [email protected].     1 ABSTRACT   The objective of this study was to fit intensity-duration-frequency equations (IDF) for sites in Bahia state, Brazil. Maximum annual rainfall lasting 5, 10, 15, 20, 30, 60, 360 and 1440 minutes were fitted to Gumbel distribution. Equation parameters were estimated using Gauss Newton method for non-linear regressions. According to Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, all equations were fitted to Gumbel distribution. From fitted distributions, maximum annual rainfall intensity was calculated for 2, 10, 20, 50 and 100years return periods, which were used to define the equation for intense rainfall events. Fitting parameters of the equations varied across rain gage stations, especially for the parameter K, suggesting the need for determining these equations for each site, thereby providing information when designing agricultural and hydraulic projects.   Keywords: Hydrology. Extreme Rainfall. Distribution of Gumbel.     GONÇALVES, L. J.; TAGLIAFERRE, C.; CASTRO FILHO, M. N; BRITO NETO, R. L.; SILVA, B. L; ROCHA, F. A. DETERMINATION OF INTENSITY-DURATION-FREQUENCY EQUATIONS FOR SITES IN BAHIA STATE     2 RESUMO   O objetivo deste estudo foi determinar equações de intensidade-duração-frequência (IDF), com base em chuvas extremas para algumas localidades do Estado da Bahia. As precipitações máximas anuais com duração de 5, 10, 15, 20, 30, 60, 360 e 1440 minutos foram ajustadas à distribuição de Gumbel. Os parâmetros da equação foram estimados pelo método de regressão não linear de Gauss Newton. De acordo com o teste Kolmogorov-Smirnov houve ajuste de todas as equações à distribuição de Gumbel. Através das distribuições ajustadas, calcularam-se os valores de intensidade máxima anual de precipitação para períodos de retorno de 2, 10, 20, 50 e 100 anos, que serviram de base para definir a equação de chuvas intensas. Os valores dos parâmetros ajustados das equações variaram entre as estações, notadamente o parâmetro K, evidenciando a necessidade da determinação dessas equações para cada localidade para dimensionamento de projetos agrícolas e de obras hidráulicas.   Palavras-chave: Hidrologia. Chuvas Intensas. Distribuição de Gumbel.


2010 ◽  
Vol 23 (7) ◽  
pp. 1937-1944 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruce T. Anderson ◽  
Jingyun Wang ◽  
Guido Salvucci ◽  
Suchi Gopal ◽  
Shafiqul Islam

Abstract In this paper, the authors evaluate the significance of multidecadal trends in seasonal-mean summertime precipitation and precipitation characteristics over the southwestern United States using stochastic, chain-dependent daily rainfall models. Unlike annual-mean precipitation, trends during the summertime monsoon, covering the period 1931–2000, indicate an overall increase in seasonal precipitation, the number of rainfall events, and the coverage of rainfall events in peripheral regions north of the “core” monsoon area of Arizona and western New Mexico. In addition, there is an increasing trend in intense storm activity and a decreasing trend in extreme dry-spell lengths. Over other regions of the domain, there are no discernible trends found in any of the observed characteristics. These trends are robust to the choice of start dates and, in the case of seasonal-mean precipitation, appear to persist into the current century.


Author(s):  
Frans C. Persendt ◽  
Christopher Gomez ◽  
Peyman Zawar-Reza

Worldwide, more than 40% of all natural hazards and about half of all deaths are the result of flood disasters. In northern Namibia flood disasters have increased dramatically over the past half-century, along with associated economic losses and fatalities. There is a growing concern to identify these extreme precipitation events that result in many hydro-meteorological disasters. This study presents an up to date and broad analysis of the trends of hydrometeorological events using extreme daily precipitation indices, daily precipitation data from the Grootfontein rainfall station (1917–present), regionally averaged climatologies from the gauged gridded Climate Research Unit (CRU) product, archived disasters by global disaster databases, published disaster events in literature as well as events listed by Mendelsohn, Jarvis and Robertson (2013) for the data-sparse Cuvelai river basin (CRB). The listed events that have many missing data gaps were used to reference and validate results obtained from other sources in this study. A suite of ten climate change extreme precipitation indices derived from daily precipitation data (Grootfontein rainfall station), were calculated and analysed. The results in this study highlighted years that had major hydro-meteorological events during periods where no data are available. Furthermore, the results underlined decrease in both the annual precipitation as well as the annual total wet days of precipitation, whilst it found increases in the longest annual dry spell indicating more extreme dry seasons. These findings can help to improve flood risk management policies by providing timely information on historic hydro-meteorological hazard events that are essential for early warning and forecasting.


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