Effects of time under rain,sampling technique and transport of samples on size distributions of water-stable aggregates

Two methods for sampling aggregates in the soil surface under simulated rain were compared using two soil types. Results showed that aggregate size distributions obtained by spatula sampling were not significantly different from those obtained using rings buried in the soil surface, provided both were sampled to the same depth. The effect of transporting samples over a distance of 60 km was non-significant when samples were placed in bottles half-filled with rainwater and transported in an upright position. The per cent aggregates > 0.125 mm was found to be the most suitable index of aggregate stability for both soils.     

Effect of zero measurements on the spatial correlation structure of rainfall

In this study, the effect of zero measurements on the spatial correlation function of rainfall is analyzed for the quantification of a rainfall field. The use of a bivariate mixed distribution function made it possible to analyze and compare the spatial correlation functions for these three different data sets: only the positive measurements at both gauge locations, positive measurements at either one or both gauge locations, and all measurements including zero at both locations. As an example, the spatial correlation functions are derived for the Geum River Basin, Korea and evaluated for the wet and dry seasons, respectively. Results show that the effect of zero measurements on spatial correlation structures is significant during the wet season, when the inter-station correlations were estimated significantly lower than those during the dry season. It was also found that only the case considering positive measurements are valid for the quantification of rainfall field. Even during the wet season, the inter-station correlation coefficients derived by considering the zero measurements show their high variability along with many abnormally looking high estimates, which made the quantification of the spatial correlation function become very ambiguous.     

Analysis and modeling of spatial correlation structure in small-scale rainfall in Central Oklahoma

Spatial correlation structure in small-scale rainfall is analyzed based on a dense cluster of raingauges in Central Oklahoma. This cluster, called the EVAC PicoNet, consists of 53 gauges installed in 25 measurement stations covering an area of about 3 km by 3 km. Two raingauges are placed in 24 stations and five in the central station. Three aspects of the estimated spatial correlation functions are discussed: dependence on time-scale ranging from 1 min to 24 h, inter-storm variability, and dependence on rainfall intensity. The results show a regular dependence of the correlogram parameters on the averaging time-scale, large differences of the correlograms in the individual storms, and the dominance of storms with high spatial variability on the average large sample characteristics. The authors also demonstrate and discuss the ambiguities in correlation estimates conditioned on rainfall intensities. The findings of this study have implications for raingauge network design, rainfall modeling, and conclusive evaluation of radar and satellite estimates of rainfall.     

Field measurements of rainfall drop-size distribution,and the relationships between rainfall parameters and soil movement by rainsplash

Rainfall drop-size distributions were measured at a site in northern England using the ‘oflour-pellet’ technique. A relationship between intensity and kinetic energy is presented. Even at the low rainfall intensities observed (< 5 mm h^?1 average over an hour) measureable amounts of rainsplash movement took place, and these movements have been related to rainfall parameters.     

Spherical gauges for improving the accuracy of rainfall measurements

Rain‐gauge catch efficiencies are affected by wind. Wind makes raindrops fall at an angle of inclination and the effective diameter of the rain gauge orifice smaller than if raindrops fall into the gauge vertically. Two spherical and two semi‐spherical orifices were designed to modify standard gauges and others in use today. The two spherical orifices catch rain with an effective diameter always equal to the actual diameter regardless of wind speed and direction. The semi‐spherical orifices, used side‐by‐side with a standard gauge, correct 50% of catch deficiencies made by the standard gauge. Tests based on 115 storms show that the four new gauges caught more rainfall than the standard gauge, with an average catch increase ranging from 8% to 16%. Compared with the pit gauge, average deficiency in catch ranged from ?1% (spherical rain gauge orifice with cylinders) to 4%, whereas the deficiency for the standard gauge was ?10%. Percentage deficiencies of the new gauges were positively affected by wind speed, raindrop inclination and rainfall intensity. Although the new gauges tended to underestimate the standard gauge in small storms (<0·25 cm) and overestimated the pit gauge under strong winds, their deviations are small. Underestimates for small storms could be improved by using gauge materials that reduce surface temperature, evaporation and water retention. The gauges are simple in design, easy to operate and inexpensive. In order to maintain a historically consistent set of rainfall data, a dual‐gauge (standard gauge + spherical gauge) is recommended for existing rainfall stations. The new rain gauge orifices are suitable for large‐scale applications. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A Monte Carlo study of rainfall forecasting with a stochastic model

A procedure for short-term rainfall forecasting in real-time is developed and a study of the role of sampling on forecast ability is conducted. Ground level rainfall fields are forecasted using a stochastic space-time rainfall model in state-space form. Updating of the rainfall field in real-time is accomplished using a distributed parameter Kalman filter to optimally combine measurement information and forecast model estimates. The influence of sampling density on forecast accuracy is evaluated using a series of a simulated rainfall events generated with the same stochastic rainfall model. Sampling was conducted at five different network spatial densities. The results quantify the influence of sampling network density on real-time rainfall field forecasting. Statistical analyses of the rainfall field residuals illustrate improvement in one hour lead time forecasts at higher measurement densities.     

Nonlinear estimation of spatial distribution of rainfall — An indicator cokriging approach

Indicator cokriging (Journel 1983) is examined as a tool for real-time estimation of rainfall from rain gage measurements. The approach proposed in this work obviates real-time estimation of real-time statistics of rainfall by using ensemble or climatological statistics exclusively, and reduces computational requirements attendant to indicator cokriging by employing only a few auxiliary cutoffs in estimation of conditional probabilities. Due to unavailability of suitable rain gage measurements, hourly radar rain fall data were used for both indicator covariance estimation and a comparative evaluation. Preliminary results suggest that the indicator cokriging approach is clearly superior to its ordinary kriging counterpart, whereas the indicator kriging approach is not. The improvement is most significant in estimation of light rainfall, but drops off significantly for heavy rainfall. The lack of predictability in spatial estimation of heavy rainfall is borne out in the integral scale of indicator correlation: peaking to its maximum for cutoffs near the median, indicator correlation scale becomes increasingly smaller for larger cutoffs of rainfall depth. A derived-distribution analysis, based on the assumption that radar rainfall is a linear sum of ground-truth and a random error, suggests that, at low cutoffs, indicator correlation scale of ground-truth can significantly differ from that of radar rainfall, and points toward inclusion of rainfall intermittency, for example, within the framework proposed in this work.     

Ground motion prediction with the empirical Green's function technique: an assessment of uncertainties and confidence level

An assessment of uncertainties for ground motion predictions with the aid of the empirical Green's function (EGF) technique is presented. The main input parameters were identified, and their respective uncertainties were assessed by means of an international expert inquiry. The repercussion of these input uncertainties on the final ground motion estimates were investigated by means of the Latin Hypercube Sampling technique. The mean ground motion estimates (response spectra) and their standard deviations were compared with results obtained from empirical attenuation laws. The most sensitive input parameter turned out to be the seismic moment corresponding to the EGF. In general, if the source parameters are well determined, equivalent uncertainties, statistically speaking, can be expected from the EGF technique and from the application of attenuation laws. Therefore, if EGFs with well known source parameters are available, the EGF technique seems to be preferable: site effects are automatically taken into account, and physically realistic acceleration time histories can be obtained. However, further investigations on the reliability of the EGF technique should be performed, and finally, it is recalled that the EGF technique is based on the assumption of linearity. If conditions are such that this assumption cannot be maintained, the EGF technique should be combined with non-linear geotechnical methods.     

Comparison of methodological uncertainties within permeability measurements

Permeability measurements are critical to the calculation of water‐flow within hillslopes. Despite this, errors in permeability measurements are often ignored, and can be very large particularly in disturbance‐sensitive gley soils. This work compares the uncertainties associated with six field methods of permeametry applied to a gleyed soil in upland Britain. Slug tests, constant‐head borehole permeametry, and falling‐head borehole permeametry were undertaken on established piezometers. Additionally, ring permeametry and two types of trench tests were evaluated. Method‐related uncertainty due to proximity of impeding layers of high sorptivity soils produces under‐ and over‐estimates of permeability by a factor of up to 0·2 and 5, respectively. This uncertainty band is smaller than the observed effects of anisotropy and temporal variability. Had smearing and soil‐ring leakage errors not been minimized, the methodological uncertainties would have been so large that they would have distorted the true spatial field of permeability and its estimated impact on the balance of vertical and lateral flow. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Simulation of airflow around rain gauges: Comparison of LES with RANS models

Wind is responsible for systematic errors that affect rain gauge measurements. The authors investigate the use of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to calculate airflow around rain gauges by applying a high-resolution large eddy simulation (LES) model to determine the flow fields around a measuring system of two rain gauges. The simulated air flow field is characterized by the presence of massive separation which induces the formation and shedding of highly unsteady eddies in the detached shear layers and wakes. Parts of these detached structures occur over the orifice of the rain gauges and may substantially affect the dynamics of the raindrops in this critical region. Non-dissipative LES methods used with fine enough meshes can successfully predict these eddies and their associated fluctuations. The authors compare statistics from LES with steady-state Reynolds averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) simulations using the k–ε and shear stress transport k–ω turbulence models. They find that both RANS and LES models predict similar mean velocity distributions around the rain gauges. However, they determine the distribution of the resolved turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) to be strongly dependent on the RANS model used. Neither RANS model predictions of TKE are close to those of LES. The authors conclude that the failure of RANS to predict TKE is an important limitation, as TKE is needed to scale the local velocity fluctuations in stochastic models used to calculate the motion of raindrops in the flow field.     

An analysis of the impact of spatial variability in rainfall on runoff and sediment predictions from a distributed model

This paper investigates the effect of introducing spatially varying rainfall fields to a hydrological model simulating runoff and erosion. Pairs of model simulations were run using either spatially uniform (i.e. spatially averaged) or spatially varying rainfall fields on a 500‐m grid. The hydrological model used was a simplified version of Thales which enabled runoff generation processes to be isolated from hillslope averaging processes. Both saturation excess and infiltration excess generation mechanisms were considered, as simplifications of actual hillslope processes. A 5‐year average recurrence interval synthetic rainfall event typical of temperate climates (Melbourne, Australia) was used. The erosion model was based on the WEPP interrill equation, modified to allow nonlinear terms relating the erosion rate to rainfall or runoff‐squared. The model results were extracted at different scales to investigate whether the effects of spatially varying rainfall were scale dependent. A series of statistical metrics were developed to assess the variability due to introducing the spatially varying rainfall field. At the catchment (approximately 150 km²) scale, it was found that particularly for saturation excess runoff, model predictions of runoff were insensitive to the spatial resolution of the rainfall data. Generally, erosion processes at smaller sub‐catchment scales, particularly when the sediment generation equation had non linearity, were more sensitive to spatial rainfall variability. Introducing runon infiltration reduced the total runoff and sediment yield at all scales, and this process was also most sensitive to the rainfall resolution. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The role of rainfall temporal and spatial averaging in seasonal simulations of the terrestrial water balance

The partitioning of rainfall into surface runoff and infiltration influences many other aspects of the hydrologic cycle including evapotranspiration, deep drainage and soil moisture. This partitioning is an instantaneous non-linear process that is strongly dependent on rainfall rate, soil moisture and soil hydraulic properties. Though all rainfall datasets involve some degree of spatial or temporal averaging, it is not understood how this averaging affects simulated partitioning and the land surface water balance across a wide range of soil and climate types. We used a one-dimensional physics-based model of the near-surface unsaturated zone to compare the effects of different rainfall discretization (5-min point-scale; hourly point-scale; hourly 0.125° gridded) on the simulated partitioning of rainfall for many locations across the United States. Coarser temporal resolution rainfall data underpredicted seasonal surface runoff for all soil types except those with very high infiltration capacities (i.e., sand, loamy sand). Soils with intermediate infiltration capacities (i.e., loam, sandy loam) were the most affected, with less than half of the expected surface runoff produced in most soil types when the gridded rainfall dataset was used as input. The impact of averaging on the water balance was less extreme but non-negligible, with the hourly point-scale predictions exhibiting median evapotranspiration, drainage and soil moisture values within 10% of those predicted using the higher resolution 5-min rainfall. Water balance impacts were greater using the gridded hourly dataset, with average underpredictions of ET up to 27% in fine-grained soils. The results suggest that “hyperresolution” modelling at continental to global scales may produce inaccurate predictions if there is not parallel effort to produce higher resolution precipitation inputs or sub-grid precipitation parameterizations.     

On the effect of the sampling frequency of sea level measurements on return period estimate of extremes—Southern European examples

Estimates of extreme sea levels and return periods have been based mainly on hourly sampling rates. Technological development has enabled the sampling rates to increase and sampling rates of 5–10 min are becoming increasingly common. In this paper we explore the relationship between extreme sea levels and estimated return periods based on hourly and shorter sampling periods in three tide-gauges one at the Atlantic coasts of Spain (Coruña), one in the western Mediterranean (Malaga) and one in the N. Adriatic (Trieste). Significant differences of several centimetres are found in the hourly and 5 min extremes. These reflect in significant underestimation of the 50-year return levels which in Trieste reach 38 cm. A theoretical relationship between the high and the low sampling rate of extremes is also tested. Thus updated 50-year return levels for the Mediterranean and the coasts of the Iberian peninsula are produced assuming that the differences identified in the various stations generalise to other tide-gauge (hourly) records for which hourly values have been analysed earlier.     

Influence of rainfall and soil properties spatial aggregation on extreme flash flood response modelling: An evaluation based on the Sesia river basin,North Western Italy

High resolution radar rainfall fields and a distributed hydrologic model are used to evaluate the sensitivity of flood and flash flood simulations to spatial aggregation of rainfall and soil properties at catchment scales ranging from 75 to 983 km². Hydrologic modeling is based on a Hortonian infiltration model and a network-based representation of hillslope and channel flow. The investigation focuses on three extreme flood and flash flood events occurred on the Sesia river basin, North Western Italy, which are analysed by using four aggregation lengths ranging from 1 to 16 km. The influence of rainfall spatial aggregation is examined by using the flow distance as a spatial coordinate, hence emphasising the role of river network in the averaging of space–time rainfall. The effects of reduced and distorted rainfall spatial variability on peak discharge have been found particularly severe for the flash flood events, with peak errors up to 35% for rainfall aggregation of 16 km and at 983 km² catchment size. Effects are particularly remarkable when significant structured rainfall variability combines with relatively important infiltration volumes due to dry initial conditions, as this emphasises the non-linear character of the rainfall–runoff relationship. In general, these results confirm that the correct estimate of rainfall volume is not enough for the accurate reproduction of flash flood events characterised by large and structured rainfall spatial variability, even at catchment scales around 250 km². However, accurate rainfall volume estimation may suffice for less spatially variable flood events. Increasing the soil properties aggregation length exerts similar effects on peak discharge errors as increasing the rainfall aggregation length, for the cases considered here and after rescaling to preserve the rainfall volume. Moreover, peak discharge errors are roughly proportional to runoff volume errors, which indicates that the shape of the flood wave is influenced in a limited way by modifying the detail of the soil property spatial representation. Conversely, rainfall aggregation may exert a pronounced influence on the discharge peak by reshaping the spatial organisation of the runoff volumes and without a comparable impact on the runoff volumes.     

采样率不足引起的反应谱计算误差

本文从分析谐波的反应谱计算误差及其产生原因入手,研究了常规反应谱方法的计算误差,指出选择采样率不仅要参照信号的奈奎斯特频率,还要注意使用采样数据时恢复被采信号所用的内插方法和容许的内插误差,文中强调山农采样定理所说的采样率大于２倍奈奎斯特频率时可完全恢复被采信号是针对内插函数ｈａ（ｔ－ｎ．Ｔ）而言的,文中以用典型的加速度反应谱合成的５条地震加速度里程及一系列谐波里程为例,研究了由于采样率不足而引起     

An evaluation of surface-mine spoils area restoration in wyoming using rainfall simulation

A recently developed rainfall simulator was used to apply ‘rainstorms’ on restored spoils areas at two coal mining sites in Wyoming. Runoff and sediment yield were considerably greater from the reworked areas compared to similar measurements on nearby undisturbed areas. This may possibly be attributed to the fact that in the disturbed areas mean slopes were generally greater, there was more clay at the surface, and concentration of roots was not as great as in the undisturbed areas. The rainfall simulator appears to be a valuable tool in determining baseline data for later comparison with data form areas under rehabilitation.     

我国南方夏季低频雨型的季节内水汽输送特征

利用1962～2006年NCEP/NCAR再分析资料,采用对历史个例进行合成分析的方法,研究了异常降水中心分别位于长江以南区域的江南型和长江-淮河流域的江淮型低频雨型的季节内水汽输送特征.研究表明,江南型的总水汽输送主要来源于孟加拉湾,并经中南半岛和南海输入江南区域;江淮型的总水汽输送主要直接来源于南海,但水汽源地主要为印度季风区.对于水汽输送异常,江南型和江淮型具有明显不同的特征.江南型的水汽输送异常主要来源于热带西太平洋-南海,中纬度西风带和中高纬度南下的水汽输送异常的贡献次之;而江淮型的水汽输送异常主要来源于热带和副热带西太平洋,中纬度西风带水汽输送异常的贡献次之.另外,水汽输送异常对江南型的区域总水汽收支的贡献约为50%,而对江淮型的区域总水汽收支的贡献高达70%左右.因此,虽然总水汽输送主要取决于气候平均水汽输送,但是,水汽输送异常与气候平均水汽输送对江南型和江淮型的水汽供应具有相同甚至更为重要的贡献.特别是对于江淮型,区域总水汽收支主要取决于水汽输送异常的贡献,而水汽输送异常的变化较平均水汽输送更为复杂,这有可能是江淮流域汛期降水预报较为困难的原因之一.     

布格重力异常建模反演在二连盆地油气勘探中的应用

二连盆地由众多小凹陷组成,伊和凹陷是其中之一.重力资料在盆地"探边摸底"、"定凹选带"等方面发挥着重要作用.本文基于布格重力异常资料,利用2.5D建模反演技术对其中横跨主洼槽的两条测线进行可视化建模及正演拟合.其中,初始模型的几何参数取自二维地震解释结果;物性参数中的纵向密度取自测井声波波速与密度的相关公式.正演拟合为建模反演技术的关键环节,密度横向变化,是在拟合过程中通过人机交互试错调整实现.通过正演拟合,揭示了主洼槽沉积层横向和纵向均存在较大的密度不均匀性,主洼槽有利于油气生成.与地震解释结果对比,二者在赛汉组-第四纪、腾格尔组深度相差不大,但凹陷底部拟合结果与地震解释结果有明显差异.通过钻井结果验证,正演拟合各沉积层深度与钻井揭示的各层深度结果一致,二维地震解释结果偏浅,其可能原因是时深转换选取的速度值偏小造成.     

Solving density driven flow problems with efficient spatial discretizations and higher-order time integration methods

Modelling density driven flow problems requires an excessive computational time and/or heavy equipments due to the non-linear coupling between flow and transport equations. In this work, we develop a robust numerical model with efficient advanced approximations for both spatial and temporal discretizations in order to reduce the excessive computational requirement while maintaining accuracy.     

分量质子旋进磁力仪观测误差分析

分析了影响质子旋进磁力仪和分量质子旋进磁力仪观测质量的因素 ,给出了分量质子旋进磁力仪补偿线圈电流允许误差、补偿线圈定向 (特别是线圈磁南北方向 )应满足的关系式和定向允许误差。提出了分量质子旋进磁力仪的使用要点