Effect of spatial and temporal variability in rainfall and watershed characteristics on stream flow hydrograph

The shape, timing and peak flow of a stream flow hydrograph are significantly influenced by spatial and temporal variability in rainfall and watershed characteristics. Depending upon the size and shape of a watershed, its hydrological response is closely linked with storm dynamics. On an urban watershed a rain storm moving in the direction of flow produces a higher peak than it would if it were moving in the opposite direction. The effect of storm speed on peak discharge is much less for rapidly moving storms than for storms moving at about the same speed as the flow velocity. In a relatively homogeneous watershed the most important effect of spatial variability of rainfall occurs in the timing and shape of the runoff hydrograph. Temporally variable rainfall leads to higher peak flow than does constant rainfall. Significant errors in the prediction of runoff occur when an equivalent uniform hillslope is used to represent a heterogeneous hillslope. When average soil properties are used instead of spatially variable properties, significant differences are observed in infiltration. Spatially variable roughness alters the flow dynamics significantly. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Modelling the effects of spatial and temporal resolution of rainfall and basin model on extreme river discharge

Abstract

Important characteristics of an appropriate river basin model, intended to study the effect of climate change on basin response, are the spatial and temporal resolution of the model and the rainfall input. The effects of input and model resolution on extreme discharge of a large river basin are assessed to give some indication on appropriate resolutions. A simple stochastic rainfall model and a river basin model with uniform parameters and multiple rainfall input have been developed and applied to the River Meuse basin in northwestern Europe. The results show that the effect of model resolution on extreme river discharge is much greater than that of input resolution. The highest model resolution seems to be quite accurate in determining extreme discharge. Although the results should be interpreted with caution, they may give some indication of appropriate input and model resolutions for the determination of extreme discharge of a large river basin.     

Impact of wind on the spatial distribution of rain over micro‐scale topography: numerical modelling and experimental verification

The wind‐driven‐rain effect refers to the redistribution of rainfall over micro‐scale topography due to the existence of local perturbed wind‐flow patterns. Rainfall measurements reported in the literature point to the fact that the wind‐driven‐rain distribution can show large variations over micro‐scale topography. These variations should be taken into account in hillslope hydrology, in runoff and erosion studies and in the design of rainfall monitoring networks. In practice, measurements are often not suitable for determining the wind‐driven‐rain distribution. Therefore, a few researchers have employed numerical modelling. In order to provide confidence in using numerical models, experimental verification for a range of different topographic features is imperative. The objective of this study is to investigate the adequacy of a two‐dimensional Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model to predict the wind‐driven‐rain distribution over small‐scale topography. The numerical model is applied to a number of topographic features, including a succession of cliffs, a small isolated hill, a small valley and a field with ridges and furrows. The numerical results are compared with the corresponding measurement results reported in the literature. It is shown that two‐dimensional numerical modelling can provide a good indication of the wind‐driven‐rain distribution over each type of micro‐scale topography that is considered in this study. It is concluded that more detailed verification procedures are currently inhibited due to the lack of available and detailed spatial and temporal rainfall data from field measurements. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.