雷达干涉PS网络的基线识别与解算方法

时序雷达干涉图中的永久散射体(PS)可看作“天然GPS点”, 以构成网络用于监测长期的地表形变. 本文提出采用邻接矩阵拓扑模型对基于Delaunay剖分算法生成的PS网络进行基线识别, 并采用时序相干最大化算法求解PS基线的线性形变速度增量和高程误差增量. 该数据模型和计算方法被应用于探测香港地区2006~2007年间的区域地表沉降. 实验研究采用由Envisat卫星ASAR传感器对该地区成像所获取的时序SAR影像作为数据源, 并联合该地区12个GPS连续运行参考站的观测数据予以大气修正和地面控制. 实验结果表明, 该模型和方法应用于地表形变测量是有效的和可靠的, PS网络方法探测地面沉降的精度约为±2.0 mm/a.     

基于全球气象再分析资料的InSAR对流层延迟改正研究

气压、温度和水汽含量等大气物理参数的时空变化导致的对流层延迟是制约合成孔径雷达干涉测量(Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar,InSAR)高精度应用的重要因素之一.最新研究显示气象再分析资料在补偿对流层延迟影响方面具有巨大的应用潜力,这促使我们对其有效性和鲁棒性做进一步的研究和探索.本文首先推导了利用气象再分析资料对InSAR进行对流层延迟校正的算法;然后以美国南加州地区的ENVISAT ASAR数据为例,分析了基于两种气象再分析资料(ERA-Interim和North American Regional Reanalysis,NARR)校正InSAR对流层延迟改正的效果;通过与MERIS水汽延迟改正结果比较,验证了该方法的有效性.实验结果表明:(1)不能简单忽略干延迟,可通过气象再分析资料进行有效估计;(2)通过与MERIS水汽产品获得的对流层延迟比较发现,气象再分析资料能够取得接近于MERIS的改善效果;(3)对ERA-Interim和NARR两种气象再分析资料而言,虽然后者具有更高的时间和空间分辨率,但在改正InSAR对流层延迟方面并没有表现出比前者更明显的优势;(4)气象再分析资料可以很好地估计与地形强相关的垂直分层延迟,但对于小尺度的湍流混合延迟的捕捉能力有限.综合分析认为,气象再分析资料的优势在于其数据可随时获得、免费和全球覆盖,它可以显著减弱大尺度的垂直分层延迟对干涉图相位的影响,从而有助于InSAR获取更真实可靠的地形高程和地表形变信息.     

InSAR大气误差改正及其在活动断层形变监测中的应用

为了获取青藏高原东北缘老虎山断裂带精确的震间形变速率场,通过对短时间基线干涉图大气改正效果的评价,从3种外部大气数据(MERIS, ERA-Ⅰ, WRF)中确定出最优的大气改正方法,用于长时间基线干涉图中的大气信号改正;然后利用层叠法(stacking)累积平均经大气和轨道改正后的干涉图,获取了研究区的震间形变速率场.结果显示:海原断裂系统区域内,MERIS和ERA-Ⅰ的大气改正效果优于WRF;MERIS和ERA-Ⅰ的改正结果给出了相似的形变速率场,断层两盘相对形变速率为视线向2.5 mm/a,转换成平行于断层方向为6.5 mm/a,与GPS结果一致;在近断层5 km的范围内,出现了较大的形变梯度,揭示了浅层蠕滑的存在.      

基于GPS和大气传输模型的InSAR大气改正方法研究

利用GPS数据改正InSAR大气影响中,GPS站网的低空间密度是限制改正精度的一个主要因素.文中引入大气传输模型（ATM）来考虑大气状态在时间上的演化,并兼顾了风向的估计,把GPS-ZWD（GPS湿延迟）时间序列观测值转换为空间上分布比较稠密的GPS-ZWD网络,然后利用该稠密网络在空间上内插产生水汽延迟图,来更好地模拟InSAR影像获取时刻的水汽场,提高大气改正精度.实验结果表明,在研究地区有限的数据条件下（即只有6个GPS点的情况下）,GPS+ATM算法在重现大气信号能力方面比单纯的使用影像获取时刻的GPS-ZWD数据要强,并且其对长波的大气误差去除更明显;用来做实验的三幅差分干涉图中,GPS+ATM算法对两幅以长波信号为主的干涉图中的大气影响分别降低了21.7%和22.6%,比仅使用SAR过境时刻GPS-ZWD数据时的结果分别改进了4.5%和8.7%.而对以短波信号为主的干涉图没有明显提高.     

The Coherent Pixels Technique (CPT): An Advanced DInSAR Technique for Nonlinear Deformation Monitoring

This paper shows the potential applicability of orbital Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Differential Interferometry (DInSAR) with multiple images for terrain deformation episodes monitoring. This paper is focused on the Coherent Pixels Technique (CPT) developed at the Remote Sensing Laboratory (RSLab) of the Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya (UPC). CPT is able to extract from a stack of differential interferograms the deformation evolution over vast areas during wide spans of time. The former is achieved thanks to the coverage provided by current SAR satellites, like ESA’s ERS or ENVISAT, while the latter due to the large archive of images acquired since 1992. An interferogram is formed by the complex product of two SAR images (one complex conjugate) and its phase contains information relative to topography, terrain deformation and atmospheric conditions among others. The goal of differential interferometric processing is to retrieve and separate the different contributions. The processing scheme is composed of three main steps: firstly, the generation of the best interferogram set among all the available images of the zone under study; secondly, the selection of the pixels with reliable phase within the employed interferograms and, thirdly, their phase analysis to calculate, as the main result, their deformation time series within the observation period. In this paper, the Coherent Pixels Technique (CPT) is presented in detail as well as the result of its application in different scenarios. Results reveal its practical utility for detecting and reproducing deformation episodes, providing a valuable tool to the scientific community for the understanding of considerable geological process and to monitor the impact of underground human activity.     

Spectral scaling in Mars topography: effect of craters

Extensive computer simulations aimed at testing a hypothesis that impact craters may explain the scaling behaviour of surface spectra are presented. The simulations show that indeed crater effects alone may explain the spectral scaling of Mars’ topography revealed from MOLA data. The range of the scaling exponents obtained for a wide range of simulation parameters does not exceed the limits observed for Mars. The simulations suggest that the shape of large craters is the key factor leading to the two scaling ranges in the surface spectra. Particular values of the scaling exponents may additionally depend on the depth-diameter relationship and the crater size distribution.     

一种InSAR大气相位建模与估计方法

为了削弱大气延迟对干涉结果的影响以提高InSAR的测量能力,本文在InSAR大气相位特征分析的基础上,研究了一种新的InSAR大气相位建模与估计方法.首先采用稳健估计确定大气垂直分层部分的模型参数,然后利用基于Matern模型的Kriging插值估计大气紊流部分,最后应用估计的大气垂直分层和紊流资料改正InSAR测量结果.利用覆盖河南义马地区的ASAR数据对本文提出的方法进行了验证,结果表明去除大气影响后,InSAR重建的DEM与参考DEM的高程差异的均方误差由19.5m降至5.3m,精度提高了约72%.同时,改正后的干涉图更合理地揭示了义马矿区的沉降漏斗情况,进一步验证了本文方法的有效性.     

ESTIMATING PRESENT SLIP RATE OF THE FAULTS IN THE WEIHE GRABEN USING ENVISAT ASAR DATA

Most great(M≥8)earthquakes during modern times have occurred in interplate regions or major continental collision zones, such as Sumatra, the Japanese island arc or the San Andreas fault zone. Continental faults slip at a much lower rate than boundary faults, but they also have the potential of generating large earthquakes. For example, the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake with a magnitude of 7.9, the slip rate of seismic fault is less than 3mm/a. They also have the potential to be significantly deadlier than those on plate boundaries because of the long repeat times and lack of preparedness. The January 23rd 1556 Huaxian earthquake in Shaanxi Province, central China, is the deadliest in history with an estimated death toll of ~830 000 from building collapse, land-sliding, famine, and disease. The earthquake occurred in the graben of the Weihe River.
The Weihe Graben in Shaanxi Province has recorded multiple earthquakes in history, whereas most active faults within the graben have a low slip rate over geological times (~1mm/a). The slip rate of faults is an important parameter for assessing the risk of earthquakes and the interval between major earthquake recurrences. In order to obtain the quantitative information of faults slip rate, traditional geological methods or geodetic observation techniques can be used. Interferometric synthetic aperture radar(InSAR), as a modern geodetic observation technology, has the characteristics of all-weather and day-and-night imaging capability, wide spatial coverage, fine resolution, and high measurement accuracy. InSAR offers the potential to measure interseismic slip rates on faults at a resolution of millimetres per year. In this study, we use InSAR data to analyze the present deformation of the Kouzhen-Guanshan, Weihe and North Qinling faults in the central part of the graben.
We collected 32 European Space Agency(ESA's)Envisat ASAR images from descending track 161 between 2003 and 2010, and processed them using ROI_PAC. The precise orbit determination from the Delft Institute for Earth Oriented Space Research(DEOS)was applied to correct for orbital effects. The topographic contribution was simulated and removed using the 90m resolution Shuttle Radar Topography Mission(SRTM)Digital Elevation Model(DEM)from CGIAR-SCI. Each interferogram was downsampled to 64 looks in the range direction (1 280m). Before phase unwrapping, a weighted power spectrum filter was applied to improve the signal-to-noise ratio. The branch-cut method was used for phase unwrapping. Phase unwrapping errors were checked by summing around a closed loop. All the major unwrapping errors were identified and corrected manually. We obtained a total of 98 interferograms with a spatial baseline of smaller than 300m, and selected 33 interferograms whose coherence is well preserved for time-series analysis. The time-series analysis was implemented using the π-RATE software package. It uses the geocoded interferograms from ROI_PAC to create a minimum spanning tree(MST)network, from which the orbital and topographically-correlated atmospheric errors are estimated. The MST network connects all epochs with the most coherent interferograms,including no closed loops of interferograms. The network approach is able to improve the estimation of orbital error by ~9% compared to the independent interferograms approach. The orbital errors are empirically modelled as planar or quadratic ramps. The topographically-correlated atmospheric correction was applied to each interferogram after having corrected for the orbital errors. Following creating a minimum spanning tree network, correcting for orbital and topographically-correlated atmospheric errors, and calculating the covariance matrix, we obtained the 7-year average slip rate of the faults that we are focused on.
Our results show that the faults across the Weihe graben all have a small slip rate of less than 2mm/a. The Kouzhen-Guanshan Fault does not show any evident deformation signal. The Weihe Fault seems to show 1mm/a normal faulting in the satellite line-of-sight direction. In addition, we find ~10mm/a surface subsidence of the Xi'an City between 2003 and 2010. We use the stable Ordos block as a reference to assess the accuracy of our InSAR time-series analysis. Assuming the Ordos block has no internal deformation, we calculated the error of the InSAR rate map to be (-0.1±1)mm/a, indicating that our result is reliable. This paper presents a preliminary result of the present deformation of the Weihe Graben. InSAR is a powerful technique for monitoring active faults on a timescale of tens of years, and can be used for seismic hazard assessment in the future.     

利用MERIS水汽数据改正ASAR干涉图中的大气影响

大气对流层对雷达信号的传播延迟是制约重复轨道InSAR高精度测量应用的重要因素之一.本文描述了MERIS水汽数据用于ASAR干涉图大气改正的方法;并以美国南加州地区为例,选取4对ENVISAT ASAR数据进行了大气改正的研究.结果显示对这4幅干涉图,经过MERIS水汽数据改正后InSAR与GPS差异的RMS分别〖JP2〗降低了41.7%,65.2%,19.3%和39.4%.平均改善程度达41.4%.更重要的是,经过MERIS水汽改正后,从2005~2007年〖JP〗干涉图和2004~2007年干涉图中,能清楚地识别出三处形变最明显的区域：Long Beach-Santa Ana 盆地、Pomona-Ontario和San Bernardino,其形变速率从-8 mm/a到-28 mm/a,大部分在-20 mm/a左右,与这些地区2003年以前的历史形变速率基本一致.因此,采用无云条件下的MERIS水蒸汽数据改正同步获取的ASAR干涉图,可以显著地降低大气水汽对干涉图相位的影响,从而更真实地反映地表形变等地球物理信号.     

A new approach to the monitoring of deformation on Lanzarote (Canary Islands): an 8-year radar perspective

There was significant eruptive activity on Lanzarote (Canary Islands) in the 18th and 19th centuries, and future activity is a clear likelihood today. The fact that not all of the island is covered by geodetic monitoring prompted the authors to assess the possibility of using SAR interferometry for routine volcanic activity monitoring of the island. This paper presents the results obtained after testing this technique using six radar images acquired by the ERS-1 and ERS-2 satellites during the period 1992-2000. The analysis of these images has confirmed the existence of long-term stability coherence across most of the island: a prerequisite for using SAR interferometry in volcano monitoring. The analysis of 15 (redundant) interferograms allowed us to study both the impact of atmospheric artifacts on Lanzarote and any possible displacements, and to conclude that there has been no displacement greater than 3 cm on the island during the period in question. This result matches those obtained with the geodetic equipment installed on the island. Our results show that the inclusion of SAR interferometry in routine geodetic monitoring, supplementing terrestrial techniques, will clearly improve the chances of detecting any possible deformation, and its broad coverage will enhance the interpretation of any observed anomalies.     

星载SAR遥感图像反演海洋大气边界层高度

本研究将边界层相似理论与对流理论应用到具有海洋大气边界层(Marine Atmospheric Boundary Layer, MABL)对流特征的星载合成孔径雷达(Synthetic Aperture Radar, SAR)遥感图像,探讨了星载SAR遥感图像描述海气应力作用下水平扰动尺度变化的潜在可能性.针对具有三维对流涡旋Cell和二维水平滚轴涡旋Roll特征的星载SAR遥感图像,反演了中国海海域MABL高度,并与同步实验获取的MABL高度结果进行对比.结果表明,利用具有对流特征的星载SAR遥感图像反演MABL高度是可行的,展示了以高分辨率、大面积观测为特点的星载SAR遥感图像探测MABL的广阔前景.     

Sensitivity analysis of the parameters of earthquake recurrence time power law scaling

The stability of the power law scaling of earthquake recurrence time distribution in a given space–time window is investigated, taking into account the magnitude of completeness and the effective starting time of aftershock sequences in earthquake catalogs from Southern California and Japan. A new method is introduced for sampling at different distances from a network of target events. This method allows the recurrence times to be sampled many times on the same area. Two power laws with unknown exponents are assumed to govern short- and long-recurrence-time ranges. This assumption is developed analytically and shown to imply simple correlation between these power laws. In practice, the results show that this correlation structure is not satisfied for short magnitude cutoffs (m _c = 2.5, 3.5, 4.5), and hence the recurrence time distribution departs from the power law scaling. The scaling parameters obtained from the stack of the distributions corresponding to different magnitude thresholds are quite different for different regions of study. It is also found that significantly different scaling parameters adjust the distribution for different magnitude thresholds. In particular, the power law exponents decrease when the magnitude cutoff increases, resulting in a slower decrease of the recurrence time distribution, especially for short time ranges. For example, in the case of Japan, the exponent p₂ of the power law scaling at large recurrence times follows roughly the relation: , where m _c is the magnitude cutoff. In case of Southern California, it is shown that Weibull distribution provides a better alternative fit to the data for moderate and large time scales.     

Dynamic,discontinuous stream networks: hydrologically driven variations in active drainage density,flowing channels and stream order

Despite decades of research on the ecological consequences of stream network expansion, contraction and fragmentation, surprisingly little is known about the hydrological mechanisms that shape these processes. Here, we present field surveys of the active drainage networks of four California headwater streams (4–27 km²) spanning diverse topographic, geologic and climatic settings. We show that these stream networks dynamically expand, contract, disconnect and reconnect across all the sites we studied. Stream networks at all four sites contract and disconnect during seasonal flow recessions, with their total active network length, and thus their active drainage densities, decreasing by factors of two to three across the range of flows captured in our field surveys. The total flowing lengths of the active stream networks are approximate power‐law functions of unit discharge, with scaling exponents averaging 0.27 ± 0.04 (range: 0.18–0.40). The number of points where surface flow originates obey similar power‐law relationships, as do the lengths and origination points of flowing networks that are continuously connected to the outlet, with scaling exponents averaging 0.36–0.48. Even stream order shifts seasonally by up to two Strahler orders in our study catchments. Broadly, similar stream length scaling has been observed in catchments spanning widely varying geologic, topographic and climatic settings and spanning more than two orders of magnitude in size, suggesting that network extension/contraction is a general phenomenon that may have a general explanation. Points of emergence or disappearance of surface flow represent the balance between subsurface transmissivity in the hyporheic zone and the delivery of water from upstream. Thus the dynamics of stream network expansion and contraction, and connection and disconnection, may offer important clues to the spatial structure of the hyporheic zone, and to patterns and processes of runoff generation. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A Multidisciplinary Study of the DPRK Nuclear Tests

The Democratic People Republic of Korea announced two underground nuclear tests carried out in their territory respectively on October 9th, 2006 and May 25th, 2009. The scarce information on the precise location and the size of those explosions has stimulated various kinds of studies, mostly based on seismological observations, by several national agencies concerned with the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty verification. We analysed the available seismological data collected through a global high-quality network for the two tests. After picking up the arrival times at the various stations, a standard location program has been applied to the observed data. If we use all the available data for each single event, due to the different magnitude and different number of available stations, the locations appear quite different. On the contrary, if we use only the common stations, they happen to be only few km apart from each other and within their respective error ellipses. A more accurate relative location has been carried out by the application of algorithms such as double difference joint hypocenter determination (DDJHD) and waveform alignment. The epicentral distance between the two events obtained by these methods is 2 km, with the 2006 event shifted to the ESE with respect to that of 2009. We then used a dataset of VHR TerraSAR-X satellite images to detect possible surface effects of the underground tests. This is the first ever case where these highly performing SAR data have been used to such aim. We applied InSAR processing technique to fully exploit the capabilities of SAR data to measure very short displacements over large areas. Two interferograms have been computed, one co-event and one post-event, to remove possible residual topographic signals. A clear displacement pattern has been highlighted over a mountainous area within the investigated region, measuring a maximum displacement of about 45 mm overall the relief. Hypothesizing that the 2009 nuclear test had been carried out close to the area where the displacement has been observed through the DInSAR technique, its relation with the epicenter location obtained through seismological processing has been discussed as a possible alternative hypothesis with respect to the preferred solutions reported by the nuclear explosion database (NEDB). The distance of about 10 km between the two places can be considered acceptable in light of the possible systematic location shifts commonly observed in the seismological practice over a global scale. The difference between the m _b magnitudes of the two tests could reflect differences in geological conditions of the two test sites, even if the yield of the two explosions had been the same.     

Monitoring of rice crop using ENVISAT ASAR data

Rice is the most important food source for people and is cultivated in most countries, among which China is one of the most productive. Increase of the world population and demands for economic devel-opment lead to the need of an efficient monitoring system for rice cultivation and forecasting of rice yield. Conventional methods for rice monitoring are based on ground-collected statistics, which is time consum-ing, inaccurate and expensive. Since the 1980s, satel-lite remote sensing has been c…     

Continuum Fractal Mechanics of the Earth’s Crust

— In the cases when the Earth’s crust possesses self-similar structure its mechanical behaviour can be modelled by a continuous sequence of continua each determined by the size of the averaging volume element. It is shown that tensorial properties and integral state variables scale by power laws with exponents common for all components of the tensors. Thus the scaling is always isotropic with anisotropy accounted for by the prefactors. As an example, scaling laws for effective moduli of the Earth’s crust with self-similar cracking are derived for the cases of isotropic distribution of disk-like cracks and two mutually orthogonal sets of 2-D cracks. Real systems are not self-similar therefore the proposed approach is based on their approximation by self-similar systems. A necessary condition is formulated for such an approximation.     

Estimating uncertainty associated with water stages from a single SAR image

It is the goal of remote sensing to infer information about objects or a natural process from a remote location. This invokes that uncertainty in measurement should be viewed as central to remote sensing. In this study, the uncertainty associated with water stages derived from a single SAR image for the Alzette (G.D. of Luxembourg) 2003 flood is assessed using a stepped GLUE procedure. Main uncertain input factors to the SAR processing chain for estimating water stages include geolocation accuracy, spatial filter window size, image thresholding value, DEM vertical precision and the number of river cross sections at which water stages are estimated. Initial results show that even with plausible parameter values uncertainty in water stages over the entire river reach is 2.8 m on average. Adding spatially distributed field water stages to the GLUE analysis following a one-at-a-time approach helps to considerably reduce SAR water stage uncertainty (0.6 m on average) thereby identifying appropriate value ranges for each uncertain SAR water stage processing factor. For the GLUE analysis a Nash-like efficiency criterion adapted to spatial data is proposed whereby acceptable SAR model simulations are required to outperform a simpler regression model based on the field-surveyed average river bed gradient. Weighted CDFs for all factors based on the proposed efficiency criterion allow the generation of reliable uncertainty quantile ranges and 2D maps that show the uncertainty associated with SAR-derived water stages. The stepped GLUE procedure demonstrated that not all field data collected are necessary to achieve maximum constraining. A possible efficient way to decide on relevant locations at which to sample in the field is proposed. It is also suggested that the resulting uncertainty ranges and flood extent or depth maps may be used to evaluate 1D or 2D flood inundation models in terms of water stages, depths or extents. For this, the extended GLUE approach, which copes with the presence of uncertainty in the observed data, may be adopted.     

Scaling exponents of the velocity structure functions in the interplanetary medium

We analyze the scaling exponents of the velocity structure functions, obtained from the velocity fluctuations measured in the interplanetary space plasma. Using the expression for the energy transfer rate which seems the most relevant in describing the evolution of the pseudo-energy densities in the interplanetary medium, we introduce an energy cascade model derived from a simple fragmentation process, which takes into account the intermittency effect. In the absence and in the presence of the large-scale magnetic field decorrelation effect the model reduces to the fluid and the hydromagnetic p-model, respectively. We show that the scaling exponents of the q-th power of the velocity structure functions, as obtained by the model in the absence of the decorrelation effect, furnishes the best-fit to the data analyzed from the Voyager 2 velocity field measurements at 8.5 AU. Our results allow us to hypothesize a new kind of scale-similarity for magnetohydrodynamic turbulence when the decorrelation effect is at work, related to the fourth-order velocity structure function.     

Cycles in the scaling properties of length-of-day variations

Variations in the length-of-day (LOD) reflect the effects of several mechanisms in the Earth's rotation dynamics, including Earth–Sun and Earth–Moon line-up, geomagnetic effects and gravitational changes. Several studies showed that signatures of cycles occurring over a wide range of time scales are present in the LOD variations. The present work uses a fractal scaling study based on detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA) to study persistence of LOD variations and to provide insights in the different cycling mechanisms. The results showed that that the LOD variations are persistent over a wide range of time scales, meaning that an increment (resp., decrement) is more likely to be followed by an increment (resp., decrement). The temporal variation of the scaling exponent obtained from the DFA showed that several cycles already reported from the direct LOD variations analysis are inherited by the scaling properties. Inter-annual cycles, including 4.3 and 18.6 years cycles, are linked to the variations of the stochastic dynamics of LOD fluctuations. In this way, the 18.6 years cycle attains a period where variations are mostly affected by white noise effects, reducing the predictability of the LOD anomalies. The results are discussed in terms of the different lunar tidal and core–mantle mechanisms and related to recent results in the literature.     

Dissecting the effect of rainfall variability on the statistical structure of peak flows

This study examines the role of rainfall variability on the spatial scaling structure of peak flows using the Whitewater River basin in Kansas as an illustration. Specifically, we investigate the effect of rainfall on the scatter, the scale break and the power law (peak flows vs. upstream areas) regression exponent. We illustrate why considering individual hydrographs at the outlet of a basin can lead to misleading interpretations of the effects of rainfall variability. We begin with the simple scenario of a basin receiving spatially uniform rainfall of varying intensities and durations and subsequently investigate the role of storm advection velocity, storm variability characterized by variance, spatial correlation and intermittency. Finally, we use a realistic space–time rainfall field obtained from a popular rainfall model that combines the aforementioned features. For each of these scenarios, we employ a recent formulation of flow velocity for a network of channels, assume idealized conditions of runoff generation and flow dynamics and calculate peak flow scaling exponents, which are then compared to the scaling exponent of the width function maxima. Our results show that the peak flow scaling exponent is always larger than the width function scaling exponent. The simulation scenarios are used to identify the smaller scale basins, whose response is dominated by the rainfall variability and the larger scale basins, which are driven by rainfall volume, river network aggregation and flow dynamics. The rainfall variability has a greater impact on peak flows at smaller scales. The effect of rainfall variability is reduced for larger scale basins as the river network aggregates and smoothes out the storm variability. The results obtained from simple scenarios are used to make rigorous interpretations of the peak flow scaling structure that is obtained from rainfall generated with the space–time rainfall model and realistic rainfall fields derived from NEXRAD radar data.