Lecture 2

By
Muhammad Waseem

Definition
All types of moisture reaching the surface of earth from
atmosphere.

Precipitation is the basic input to the hydrology

Factors determining

precipitation or the amount

of atmospheric moisture
over a region
Climate
Geography

Ocean surfaces is the chief

source of moisture for

precipitation

Forms of precipitation

Three mechanisms are needed for formation of precipitation.

1. Lifting and Cooling - Lifting of air mass to higher
altitudes causes cooling of air.
2. Condensation - conversion of water vapour into liquid
droplets.
3. Droplet Formation - Growth of droplets is required if the
liquid water present in a cloud is to reach ground against
the lifting mechanism of air.

Lifting mechanism gives the three main types of

Precipitation.

Cyclonic Precipitation (Frontal /non Frontal)

Convective Precipitation

Orographic Precipitation

Cyclonic Precipitation
(Frontal/Non frontal)
Frontal precipitation results when the leading edge( front)
of a warm air mass meets a cool air mass. The warmer air
mass is forced up over the cool air. As it rises the warm air
cools, moisture in the air condenses, clouds and precipitation
result.

Convective Precipitation
Convectional precipitation results from the heating of the earth's
surface that causes air to rise rapidly. As the air rises, it cools and
moisture condenses into clouds and precipitation

Orographic Precipitation
It results when warm moist air of the ocean is forced to rise by large
mountains. As the air rises it cools, moisture in the air condenses and
clouds and precipitation result on the windward side of the mountain
while the leeward side receives very little. This is common in British
Columbia.

Depth: depth of rainfall at a point or over an area (mm)

Duration: the period of time during which rain fell (hours)

Intensity: depth of rainfall per unit time i.e. depth/duration (mm/hr)

Normal Annual Precipitation (mean of 30 years annual ppt)

Rainfall varies greatly both in time and space

With respect to time temporal variation
With space Spatial variation
The temporal variation may be defined as hourly, daily, monthly, seasonal
variations and annual variation (long-term variation of precipitation).
Rainfall and other forms of precipitation are measured in terms of depth,
the values being expressed in millimeters.
One millimeter of precipitation represents the quantity of water needed to
cover the land with a 1mm layer of water, taking into account that
nothing is lost through drainage, evaporation or absorption.
Instrument used to collect and measure the precipitation is called rain gauge.

Temporal Variation of rainfall at a particular site

Total Rainfall amount = 6.17 cm

Rainfall Intensity, cm/hr

14
12
10

8
6
4
2
0
0

20

40

60

80

Time, min

100

120

140

LongtermPrecipitationvariationat Arba Minch

45
40

Annual rainfall, mm

35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
1986

1988

1990

1992

1994

1996
Years

1998

2000

2002

2004

2006

Annual Precipitation
average precipitation

Measurement of precipitation (Rain and Snow)

can be done by various devices. These
measuring devices and techniques are;
Rain Gauges
Snow Gauges
Radars
Satellites

Rain gages are most commonly used for the

measurement of precipitation, both in terms
of rain fall and snow.

There are two main types of rain gages which

are used to measure the precipitation. These
are;

1. Non recording rain gages

2. Recording rain gages

It is a rain gage which does not provide the distribution

of amount of precipitation in a day. It simply gives the
amount of precipitation after 24 hours (daily
precipitation). They are known as non-recording
because they do not record the rain but collect the rain.

18

These rain gauges are also called integrating rain

gauges since they record cumulative rainfall. In
addition to the total amount of rainfall at a station, it
gives the times of onset and cessation of rains
(thereby gives the duration of rainfall events)

There are three main types of recording rain gauges

1. Float type rain gages

2. Tipping bucket type rain gages

3. Weighing type rain gages

Weighing type recording rain gauge:

In this type of rain-gauge, when a certain weight of
rainfall is collected in a tank, which rests on a springlever balance.
It makes a pen to move on a chart wrapped round a
clock driven drum
The rotation of the drum sets the time scale while the
vertical motion of the pen records the cumulative
precipitation.
21

Weighing type recording rain gauge:

Tipping Bucket
rain gauge

type recording

This consists of a cylindrical receiver

30 cm diameter with a funnel inside.
A pair of tipping buckets is pivoted Just
below the funnel
When one of the bucket receives a
rainfall of 0.25 mm it tips and empties
into a tank below, while the other
bucket takes its position and the
process is repeated.
The tipping of the bucket actuates on
electric circuit which causes a pen to
move on a chart wrapped round a drum
which revolves by a clock mechanism.
This type cannot record snow.

24

Floating type recording rain gauge:

The rain is collected in a float chamber.
The float moves up which makes a pen to move on a chart
wrapped round a clock driven drum.
When the float chamber fills up, the water siphons out
automatically through a siphon tube kept in an interconnected
siphon chamber.
The clockwork revolves the drum once in 24 hours.
The clock mechanism needs rewinding once in a week when
the chart wrapped round the drum is also replaced.

 Optical Rain Gauge (ORG)

The ORG is mounted on a small pole

The ORG sends a beam of light (which you cannot

see) from one of its ends to a detector at the other

end.
When raindrops fall, they break the beam. The rain
rate is measured by the ORG by measuring how
often the beam is broken.
The rain rate can be used to calculate the total
amount of rain that has fallen in any given period
ORG measures the rate of rainfall in millimeters per
hour (mm/hr).

 Mistakes in reading the scale of gauge

Dents in collector rim may change its receiving

area
Instrumental error in gauge or in their
recording or measuring arrangements
Some rainwater may get lost due to splash from
the collector
Some initial rainwater may get lost in
moistening gauge funnel and inside surfaces

 Blowing wind may tilt the rains from vertical

which thus brings less rain catch in the gauge

Gauge inclined 10 from vertical will cater 1.5%
less rainfall than it should
No rainfall recorded during tipping of bucket
Tipping of bucket may be affected due to
rusting or accumulation of dust on pivot

(Un)avoidable Errors
Equipment failure
Observer error

Avoidable Errors
Site

Obstructions
Height - splashing
Surrounds
Wind

 Ideally, the gauge should be sited

with some shelter, but not oversheltered.

 Windshields may reduce the loss due

to turbulence (eddies) around the
gauge

 Common Errors
Evaporation
Adhesion
Inclination
Splash
Wind

- 1%
- 0.5%
- 0.5%
+1%
-5-8%

 Rainfall is recorded automatically, therefore no

need of attendant
Recording rain gauge also gives intensity of
rainfall at any time, while non-recording gauge
gives only total rainfall for time interval
Recording rain gauges can be installed far off
places as no need of attendant
Possibility of human error is obviated

 Costly in comparison to non-recording gauges

Error in recording rainfall due to fault in

electrical or mechanical mechanism

 Paper Charts

Data Loggers
Telemetry

 Paper Charts
Simplest method
Chart moved by spring or electronically driven clock
past pen
Pen moves with weight/float etc
Two Types

Drum - rotates
Strip - moves past pen

 Data Loggers
A data logger is a computer that records and stores
data from sensors both analog (voltage) and
digital(counts).
The data logger requires a program to tell it what to
do.

Preloaded computer chip that already has the program in it

or create theprogram

Data can then be accessed by a computer to monitor

current conditions or download stored data.

 Data Loggers
Problems

Vandalism due to desirability of batteries

 Telemetry
Data stored by logger can transferred directly to a
base station via some form of telecommunication

Location of Rain Gauges

Rain-gauges must be so located as to avoid exposure to wind
effect or interception by trees or buildings nearby.
The best location may be an open plane ground like an airport.
The rainfall records are maintained by one or more of the
following departments:

Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD)

Public Works Department (PWD)
Agricultural Department
Revenue Department
Forest Department, etc.
47

RAIN-GAUGE DENSITY
Depends on Storm type
Cyclonic storms (large areas, low intensities) -small number of gauges is O.K.
Convective storms (local, intense, uneven distribution) -denser network needed.
Convective storms may have seasonal dominance -need to consider this as well.
Orographic rainfall due to mountains (not fronts) -may need denser network than
flatter area.
Area
Rain-gauge density
Plains
1 in 520 km2
Elevated regions
1 in 260-390 km2
Hilly and very heavy rainfall areas
1 in 130 Km2
In India, on an average, there is 1 rain-gauge station for every 500 km2, while in
more developed countries, it is 1 station. for 100 km2.

Estimating Missing Precipitation

Data At A Station

Missing precipitation data is estimated by two

commonly used methods.

Arithmetic Mean Method

Normal Ratio Method (NRM)
The station whose data is missing is called
interpolation station and gauging stations
whose data are used to calculate the missing
station data are called index stations.

It is obtained by simply averaging arithmetically the amounts

of rainfall at the individual rain-gauge stations in the area
Use when normal annual precipitation is within 10% of the
gauge for which data are being reconstructed
This is fast and simple method and results good estimates when
1. Area is flat,
2. Gauges are uniformly distributed and
3. Rainfall is uniform for all gauge stations

Where:
Px = precipitation at the missing location
Pi = precipitation at index station I
N = number of rain gauges

Normal ratio method (NRM) is used when the normal annual

precipitation at any of the index station differs from that of
the interpolation station by more than 10%. In this method,
the precipitation amounts at the index stations are weighted
by the ratios of their normal annual precipitation data in a
relationship of the form:

Where:
Pm = precipitation at the missing location
Pi = precipitation at index station
Nm = average annual rain at missing data gauge
Ni = average annual rain at gauge
N = number of rain gauges

Example
Find out the missing storm precipitation of station C
given in the following table:
Station
Storm precipitation (cm)
Normal Annual precipitation (cm)

9.7

8.3

---

11.7

8.0

100.3

109.5

93.5

125.7

117.5

Solution:
10% of Nc = 93.5 x 10/100 = 9.35
10% Range of Nc= 84.15 to 102.85 (Values of Nb , Nd and Ne
are out of this range, hence normal mean method
applicable)

N
N
1 N
Px P1 x P2 x P3 x
4 N1
N2
N3

N4

Pc = (1/4) (9.7 x 93.5/100.3 + 8.3 x 93.5/109.5 +

11.7 x 93.5/125.7 + 8.0 x 93.5/117.5) = 7.8 cm.

Example 3.3:
Precipitation station X was inoperative for part of a
month during which a storm occurred. The storm
totals at three surrounding stations A, B and C were
respectively 10.7, 8.9 and 12.2 cm. The normal annual
precipitation amounts at stations X, A, B and C are
respectively 97.8, 112, 93.5 and 119.9 cm. Estimate the
storm precipitation for station X.

Solution:
Pa = 10.7 cm
Pb = 8.90 cm
Pc = 12.2 cm
Px = ?

Na = 112 cm
Nb = 93.5 cm
Nc = 119.9 cm
Nx = 97.8 cm

10% of Nx = 97.8 x 10/100 = 9.78 cm

Nx Na = 97.8 112 = -14.2 cm (more than +10% of Nx,
therefore no need to calculate Nx Nb and Nx Nc )
So we will use Normal Ratio Method.
Px = (1/3) (10.7 x 97.8/112 + 8.90 x 97.8/93.5 + 12.2 x
97.8/119.9) = 9.5 cm.

Consistency of Precipitation Data

A double-mass curve is used to check the consistency of a

rain gauge record:
compute cumulative
rainfall
amounts for suspect gauge and
check gauges
plot cumulative rainfall amounts
against each other (divergence
from a straight line indicates error)
multiplying erroneous data after
change by a correction factor k
where:

gradient of line before change

gradient of line after change

The annual rainfall depths recorded by five rain gauges (A, B, C, D, and E) over
a seven year period are tabulated below. Use this information to check the
consistency of rain gauge A.
(i). In what year does gauge Aappear to develop a fault?
(ii) Derive and apply correction factor to correct the erroneous data.
Annual rainfall totals ( m m )
Ye a r

1975
1976
1977
1978
1979
1980
1981

Gauge A

1367
1313
1333
1347
1123
1203
1033

Gauge B

1020
960
972
1000
998
1080
1150

Gauge C

1054
959
970
1013
1004
1095
1134

Gauge D

1044
970
980
1020
1003
1110
1050

Gauge E

1040
982
983
1035
1004
1110
1086

Cumulate the annual rainfall amounts for gauge A and for the other four
gauges (B, C, D and E). In the case of the latter - the annual rainfall totals for
gauges B, C, D and E have to be averaged before the cumulative annual
rainfall totals are computed. Once this is done, the mass curve can be plotted:
Annual rainfall totals (mm)

Cumulative rain (mm)

Gauge X

Gauges
1,2,3,4

Year

Gauge A

Gauge B

Gauge C

Gauge D

Gauge E

Mean of gauges
1,2,3,4

1975

1367

1020

1054

1044

1040

1040

1367

1040

1976

1313

960

959

970

982

968

2680

2008

1977

1333

972

970

980

983

976

4013

2984

1978

1347

1000

1013

1020

1035

1017

5360

4001

1979

1123

998

1004

1003

1004

1002

6483

5003

1980

1203

1080

1095

1110

1110

1099

7686

6102

1981

1033

1150

1134

1050

1086

1105

8719

7207

Cumulative rainfall (mm) - Gauge X

10000
8000
6000
4000
2000
0
0

2000

4000

6000

Cumulative rainfall (mm) - Gauges 1 - 4

8000

If the gauge A record is consistent, the points will fall on one straight line.
Deviation from a straight line indicates an inconsistency. In this case, there
is a distinct change at 1979. The conclusion is that the record for gauge A is
not consistent beyond 1979, and that the annual rainfall amounts for gauge
A from 1979 on require correction.
To perform the correction, the gradients of the two best fit lines (that is,
1975-79 and 1979-81) and a correction factor, k, (defined as the ratio of the
two) are computed. All the annual rainfall amounts for gauge A from 1979
onwards are corrected by multiplying each by k.
From the uncorrected double mass curves the gradients are found to be:
1975-79
Gradient = (6483-1367) / (5003-1040) = 1.29
1979-81
Gradient = (8719-6483) / (7207-5003) = 1.01
So, k = (1.29 / 1.01) = 1.27

The corrected annual rainfall values for gauge A (shown in bold) and the
corrected cumulative rainfall amounts are shown in the following table:
62

Year

Annual depth (mm)

Gauge
Gauge X
X
(corrected)

Cumulative rain (mm)

Gauge
Gauges
X
1,2,3,4

1975

1367

1367

1367

1040

1976
1977
1978
1979
1980
1981

1313
1333
1347
1123
1203
1033

1313
1333
1347
1501
1608
1381

2680
4013
5360
6861
8469
9850

2007
2984
4001
5003
6102
7207

Computation of Average
Precipitation

Average Precipitation Over An Area

In order to compute the average rainfall over a basin or
catchment area, the rainfall is measured at a number of
rain gauge stations suitably located in the area.
The number of rain-gauge stations depends upon the area
and distribution of rainfall.
If a basin or catchment area contains more than one rain
gauge stations, the computation of average rainfall may
be done using different methods.

Average Rainfall Over An Area

To convert the point rainfall values measured by various rain-gauge
stations into an average value over a catchment, following methods

are used.

Arithmetic Mean Method

Thiessen Polygon Method
Isohytel Method

Arithmetic Mean
Method

1.Arithmetic Average Method.

Precipitation over area is arithmetic average of gauge precipitation
values.
Simplest method but only applicable when basin area is flat.
All stations with in practical limit uniformly distributed over area.
Rainfall is also nearly uniformly distributed over area.
If P1, P2, . . . , Pn are the rainfall values obtained from n rain-gauge stations
within a catchment, then the average precipitation is given by
n

P1 P2 ..... Pn
P

P
i 1

Example
Four rain-gauge stations are located in a catchment area.
Annual precipitation recorded by these stations in the year
2015 are:
A(95cm), B(150cm), C(115cm), D(98cm).
Calculate the average annual precipitation on the catchment in
2015
n

P P2 ..... Pn
P 1

P
i 1

95 + 150 + 115 + 98
4

114.5 cm

Thiessen Polygon
Method

2.Thiessen Polygon Method.

This method attempts to allow for non-uniform distribution of
gauges by providing a weighting factor for each gauge.
Each polygon area is assumed to be influenced by the rain
gauge station inside it.
Divide the region (area A) into sub-regions centered about
each rain gauge;
Determine the area of each sub-region
(Ai) and compute sub region weightings (Wi)
using: Wi = Ai/A
Compute total areal rainfall using:

2.Thiessen polygon method.

This method is a more common method of
weighing the rain gauge observation according to
the area.
Also called Weighted Mean Method.
Accurate than arithmetic average method.
Average rainfall can be computed by the
following expression.

In this method, the rainfall recorded at each station is given a

weightage on the basis of an area closest to that station.
1. Draw the catchment area to a scale and mark the raingauge stations on it.

2. Join each station by straight line to create a triangulated

network.

3. Draw perpendicular bisectors on each sides of each triangles.

Extend the bisectors to meet the other bisectors and the
catchment boundary.

4. The polygons formed by the perpendicular bisectors (and

part of catchment boundary) are the influence areas of each
stations.

If there are n number of rain-gauge stations in and around the

catchment and if A1,A2, . . . ,An are the respective influence areas
of Thiessen Polygon, then the average rainfall is given by

Isohytel Method

Introduction
Isohyet: An isohyet is a line joining points of equal rainfall
magnitude.

If P1, P2, . . . , Pn are the values of isohyets and if A1,A2, . . . ,An1 are
the inter-isohyet area respectively, then the mean precipitation over
the catchment is given by

3.Isohytal Method
Plot gauge locations on a map.
Subjectively interpolate between rain amounts between gauges at a
selected interval.
Connect points of equal rain depth to produce lines of equal rainfall
amounts (isohyets).
The area between adjacent isohyets is measured using a planimeter.
If isohyets go out of the catchment, the catchment boundary is used
as the bounding line.

Example
The isohyets due to a storm in a catchment were drawn and
the area of the catchment bounded by isohyets were
tabulated as below. Estimate the mean precipitation due to
the storm.

Solution

Isohyetal Example