CE 321 – Hydrology

Selva Balaji M
BITS Pilani Department of Civil Engineering
[email protected]
Pilani Campus

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 Estimation of Missing Rainfall data
For frequency analysis of rainfall data, a sufficient long record is required.
It may so happen that a particular rain gauge is not operative for part of a
month or so (Since it is broke or for some other reason), when it becomes
necessary to supplement the missing record by one of the following
methods
P1, P2, P3,…, Pm - annual precipitation at neighbouring M stations 1, 2, 3,…,
M respectively
Px - Missing annual precipitation at station X
N1, N2, N3,…, Nm & Nx- normal annual precipitation at all M stations and
at X respectively
Normal rainfall:
Average value of rainfall at a particular date, month or year over a
specified 30-yearperiod.

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 Arithmetic Average Method

This method is used when normal annual precipitations at various stations

show variation within 10% w.r.t station X

Let P1,P2 ,P3 … Pm be known annual precipitation values of m stations

Px is the precipitation of the station x which is not included in M stations.
N1, N2, N3… are the known Normal annual precipitations of M+1 Stations

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 Normal Ratio Method

Used when normal annual precipitations at various stations show

variation >10% w.r.t station X

If the normal precipitations vary considerably, then Px is estimated by

weighing the precipitation at the various stations by the ratios of normal
annual precipitations. This method is known as normal ratio method,
gives Px as,

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 Station-year method
In this method, the records of two or more stations are combined
into one long record provided station records are independent and the
areas in which the stations are located are climatologically the same. The
missing record at a station in a particular year may be found by the ratio of
averages or by graphical comparison
For example, in a certain year the total rainfall of station A is 75 cm
and for the neighbouring station B, there is no record. But if the a.a.r. at A
and B are 70 cm and 80 cm, respectively, the missing year’s rainfall at B
(say, PB) can be found by simple proportion as:
75 / 70 = PB / 80
∴ PB = 85.7 cm
This result may again be checked with reference to another neighbouring
station C.

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 Points to be remembered for estimating the
missing rainfall data

Arithmetic Average Method

Normal Ratio Method

Station-year method, Px= (P1/ AAR of station 1) * AAR of station X

Where AAR= Average Annual Rainfall

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Problem 9

The normal Annual Rainfall at stations A,B,C and D in a basin are

80.79, 67.59, 76.28 and 92.01 cm respectively. In the year 1975, the
station D was inoperative and the stations A,B and C recorded
annual precipitations of 94.11, 72.23, and 79.89 cm respectively.
Estimate the rainfall at station D in that year

Solution: Since the normal rainfall values vary more that 10 %, the
normal ratio method is adopted.

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 Problem 10

Rain-gauge station D was inoperative for part of a month during which

a storm occurred. The storm rainfall recorded in the three surrounding
stations A, B and C were 8.5, 6.7 and 9.0 cm, respectively. If the a.a.r for the
stations are 75, 84, 70 and 90 cm, respectively, estimate the storm rainfall at
station D.

Solution: Since AAR is known, Station Year method Can be used.

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 Problem 11
For the Practice
The normal annual precipitation of five rain gauge stations P,Q,R,S and T
are respectively 125, 102, 76, 113, and 137cm. During a particular storm
the precipitation recorded by stations P,Q,R,and S are 13.2,9.2,6.8 and
10.2 cm respectively. The instrument at station T was inoperative during
that storm. Estimate the rainfall at station T during the storm

Answer PT= 12.86 cm

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 Consistency Of Rainfall Data - Double-mass
Curve Method

Mass curve of rainfall:

The mass curve of rainfall is a plot of the
accumulated precipitation against time, plotted in chronological order.

The trend of the rainfall records at a station may slightly change after
some years due to a change in the environment (or exposure) of a station
either due to coming of a new building, fence, planting of trees or cutting of
forest nearby, which affect the catch of the gauge due to change in the wind
pattern or exposure

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 Double-mass Curve Method

The consistency of records at the station in question (say, X) is tested

by a double mass curve by plotting the cumulative annual (or seasonal)
rainfall at station X against the concurrent cumulative values of mean annual
(or seasonal) rainfall for a group of surrounding stations, for the number of
years of record.
From the plot, the year in which a change in regime (or
environment) has occurred is indicated by the change in slope of the straight
line plot.
The rainfall records of the station x are adjusted by multiplying the
recorded values of rainfall by the ratio of slopes of the straight lines before and
after change in environment.

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Steps

• A group of 5 to 10 base stations in the neighborhood of the problem

station X is selected.
• The data of the annual or monthly or seasonal mean rainfall of the
station X and also the average rainfall of the group pf base stations
covering a long period is arranged in the reverse chronological order
(latest as first entry)
• The accumulated precipitation of the station X ( ∑Px) and the
accumulated values of the average of the group of base stations
(∑Pav) are calculated starting from the latest record.

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 Steps Cont…
• Values of ∑Px are plotted against ∑Pav for various consecutive time
periods.
• A decided break in the slope of the resulting plot indicates a change in
the precipitation regime of station X. The precipitation values at
station X beyond the period of change of regime is corrected by using
the relation

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 Double Mass Curve

Accumulated Annual Rainfall at x

∑ Px in units of 103 cm

Accumulated Annual Rainfall of 10 station mean

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 Double Mass Curve Cont…
Mc = corrected slope of the double-mass curve
Ma = original slope of the double-mass curve
In this way the older records are brought to the new regime of
the station. It is apparent that the more homogeneous the base station
records are, the more accurate will be the corrected values at station X.
A change in the slope is normally taken as significant only where
it persists for more than five years. The double-mass curve is also helpful
îl checking systematic arithmetical errors in transferring rainfall data from
one record to another.

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 Problem 12
Annual rainfall data for station M s well the average annual
rainfall values for a group of ten neibouring station located in a
meteorologically homogeneous region are given below. Test the
consistency of the annual rainfall data of station M and correct the record
if there is any discrepancy. Estimate the mean annual precipitation at
station M

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 Solution Steps:
• The data is sorted in descending order starting from latest year
1979
• Cumulative values of station M rainfall ( ∑Pm) and ten stations
average rainfall values ( ∑Pav) are calculated
• The data is plotted with ( ∑Pm) on x axis and ( ∑Pav) in X axis to
obtain a double mass curve plot
• The value of the year corresponding to the plotted points is also
noted on the plot.
• It is observed that the data plots as two straight lines with a break
of grade at the year 1969. This represents a change in the regime
of the station M after the year 1968.
• The slope of the best straight line for the period 1979-1969 is
Mc=1.0295 and the slope of the best straight line for the period
1968-1950 is Ma= 0.8779

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 Double Mass Curve

∑ Pm = Cumulative Annual Rainfall at Station M (mm)

∑ Pav = Cumulative ten station Average

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 Double Mass Curve Problem
Solution
The correction ratio to bring the old records (1950-1968) to the
current (post 1968) regime is Mc/Ma,= 1.0295/ 0.8779= 1.173. Each of the
pre 1969 annual rainfall value is multiplied by the correction ratio of 1.173
to get the adjusted value.
The adjusted values at station M are shown in Col. 5 of Table. The
finalized values of P (rounded off to nearest mm) for all the 30 years of
record are shown in Col. 7. The mean annual precipitation at station M
(based on the corrected time series)(19004/30) 633.5 mm

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Double Mass Curve Calculation

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Double Mass Curve Calculation

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 Problem 13

The annual rainfall at station X and the average annual rainfall at 18

surrounding stations are given below. Check the consistency of the record at
station X and determine the year in which a change in regime has occurred.
State how you are going to adjust the records for the change in regime.
Determine the a.a.r. for the period 1952-1970 for the changed regime.

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Rainfall Data

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Solution

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 Double Mass Curve

Cumulative annual rainfall of station, X, cm

Cumulative annual rainfall of 18 stations, average, cm

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 Double Mass Curve Inference

The above cumulative rainfalls are plotted as shown. It can be seen

from the figure that there is a distinct change in slope in the year 1958,
which indicates that a change in regime (exposure) has occurred in the year
1958.
To make the records prior to 1958 comparable with those after
change in regime has occurred, the earlier records have to be adjusted by
multiplying by the ratio of slopes m2/m1 i.e., 0.9/1.25.

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Solution

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 The variation of rainfall with respect to time may be shown
graphically by
(i) a hyetograph, and
(ii) a mass curve.
Hyetograph
A hyetograph is a bar graph showing the intensity of rainfall with
respect to time and is useful in determining the maximum intensities of
rainfall during a particular storm as is required in land drainage and design
of culverts.
The area under a hyetograph represents the total Precipitation
received in the period. The time interval used depends on the purpose, in
urban-drainage problems small durations are used while in flooding
computations in larger catchments the intervals are of about 6 Hrs

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 Intensity of Rainfall I (cm/hr)
Hyetograph

Time t (min)

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Mass Curve
A mass curve of rainfall (or precipitation) is a plot of cumulative
depth of rainfall against time. From the mass curve, the total depth of rainfall
and intensity of rainfall at any instant of time can be found.
The amount of rainfall for any increment of time is the difference
between the ordinates at the beginning and end of the time increments, and
the intensity of rainfall at any time is the slope of the mass curve (i.e., i =
∆P/∆t) at that time.
A mass curve of rainfall is always a rising curve and may have some
horizontal sections which indicates periods of no rainfall. The mass curve for
the design storm is generally obtained by maximising the mass curves of the
severe storms in the basin.

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 Cumulative Rainfall P, cm

Time t hr
Mass Curve

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 Point Rainfall
Point rainfall, also known as station rainfall refers to the rainfall
data of a station. Depending upon the need, data can be listed as daily,
weekly, monthly, seasonal or annual values for various periods
Graphically these data represented as plots of magnitude vs
chronological time in the form of a bar diagram. Such a plot, however ,
is not convenient for discerning a trend in the rainfall as there will be
considerable variations in the rainfall values leading to rapid changes in
the plot. The trend is often discerned by the method of moving
averages, also moving means

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 36

Cumulative Precipitation (mm)

Point Rainfall

Monthly Precipitation (mm)

 Points to be remembered in the
presentation of rainfall data

Hyetograph: Plot as Rainfall intensity in Y axis and Time in axis

Mass curve: Plot in chronological order as Accumulated Precipitation in Y
axis and Time in axis
Point Rainfall refers to the rainfall data of a station

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 MOVING AVERAGES CURVE
If the rainfall at a place over a number of years is plotted as a
bar graph it will not show any trends or cyclic patterns in the rainfall
due to wide variations in the consecutive years

In order to depict a general trend in the rainfall pattern, the

averages of three or five consecutive years are found out progressively
by moving the group averaged, one year at a time.

A 3-year or 5-year moving mean curve is useful in identifying

the long term trends or patterns in the rainfall at a place.

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 Steps in Moving Average Method
• Moving average is a technique for smoothening out the high frequency
fluctuations of a time series and to enable the trend , if any, to be
noticed.
• The basic principle is that a window of time range of the data for m
years is selected.
• Starting from the first set of m years of data, the average of the data for
m years is calculated and placed in the middle year of the range m.
• The window is moved sequentially one time unit (Year) at a time and
the mean of the m terms in the new window is determined at each
window location.
• The value of m can be 3 or more years, usually an odd value
• Generally larger the size of the range m, the greater is the smoothening
. There are many ways of averaging and the method described above is
called central simple moving average

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 MOVING AVERAGES CURVE

Precipitation P (cm)

Years

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 ➢ The 21-years of rainfall records at a place given in the given figure
➢ The first five years of record are averaged as
(50 + 60 + 40 + 27 + 30)/5 = 207/5 = 41.4 cm and
this average is plotted at the mid-point of the group.
➢ The next point is obtained by omitting the first and averaging the 2 to 6
years of record, again plotting the average
i.e., (207 – 50 + 38)/5 = 39 cm at the midpoint of this group,
➢ Thus, a 5-year moving
mean curve is obtained

Precipitation P(cm)
in which the wide
variations in the
consecutive years are
smoothed out

Years
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 Problem 14

Annual rainfall values recorded at station M for the period 1950 to 1979 is
given. Represent the data as bar diagram with time in chronological order.
(i) Identify those years in which the annual rainfall is
(a) less that 20 % of mean, and (b) more than mean
(ii) Plot the three year moving mean of the annual rainfall time series.

Solution:
Plot Bar chart with height of column representing the average rainfall depth
and position of the column representing the time of the occurrence. Time I
arranged in chronological order

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 Bar Chart of Annual Rainfall

Annual Rainfall (mm)

Year

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 Steps
• The mean of the annual rainfall time series is 568.7 mm.
• As such, 20% less than the mean = 426.533
• Lines representing these values are shown in fig. as horizontal lines.
• It can be seen that in 6 years, viz 1952, 1960,1969,1976, 1977 and
1978, the annual rainfall values are less than 426.5 mm.
• In thirteen years, viz. 1950, 1951, 1955, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967,
1968, 1970, 1976, , 1977 and 1978, the annual rainfall was more than
the mean
• Moving mean calculations are shown in table. Three year moving mean
curve is plotted with the moving mean value as the ordinate and the
time in chronological order as abscissa.
• Note that the curve starts from 1951 and ends in the year 1978.
• No apparent trend is indicated in this plot.
• The moving mean is recorded at the mid span of 3 years

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Computation of Three-year mean Moving Mean

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CONT…

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 Problem 15
The following are the rain gauge observations during a storm. Construct: (a)
mass curve of precipitation, (b) hyetograph

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 Solution
a) Mass curve of precipitation:

Plot of accumulated Rainfall (cm) versus time (min)

Total rainfall depth (cm)

Time t (min)

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 b) Hyetograph
The intensity of rainfall at successive 5 min interval is calculated and a bar
graph of i(cm/hr) vs t (min) is constructed ;
This depicts the variation of the intensity of rainfall with respect to time and
called the hyetograpgh

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 Hyetograph

Intensity I cm/hr

Time t (min)

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 Problem 16
For the Practice

Answer

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Find the mean normal annual precipitation over the catchment area by using the
arithmetic mean, Thiessen polygon, and Isohyetal methods

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Find the mean normal annual precipitation over the catchment area by using the
arithmetic mean, Thiessen polygon, and Isohyetal methods

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The two additional rain gauges required for the desired accuracy, S5 (to the West of S1 and S4) and S6
(to the East of S2 and S3), were installed along the East-West centerline at a distance of 10 km from the
boundaries. The following table shows the normal values at these stations and some typical values for
the year 1995. Station S6 was inoperative for most months of this year. Estimate the missing values.
(Note: Due to roundoff, the monthly normals may not add up to the yearly normals. Also, the
differences in precipitations have been exaggerated to illustrate the method. In practice, precipitation at
stations close to one another will not be so different.)

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The two additional rain gauges required for the desired accuracy, S5 (to the West of S1 and S4) and S6
(to the East of S2 and S3), were installed along the East-West centerline at a distance of 10 km from the
boundaries. The following table shows the normal values at these stations and some typical values for
the year 1995. Station S6 was inoperative for most months of this year. Estimate the missing values.
(Note: Due to roundoff, the monthly normals may not add up to the yearly normals. Also, the
differences in precipitations have been exaggerated to illustrate the method. In practice, precipitation at
stations close to one another will not be so different.)

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The table below shows a 30-year record for the annual precipitation at the 6 stations. Check the
consistency of data for station S6, and correct the data, if needed.

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S6 is a recording raingauge and Isohyets from all raingauges given below. Find the maximum intensity
for the catchment.

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S6 is a recording raingauge and Isohyets from all raingauges given below. Find the maximum intensity
for the catchment.

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Depth-Intensity-Duration Curves: Temporal Variability

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Depth-Area-Duration Curves: Spatial Variability

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Depth-Area-Duration Curves: Spatial Variability

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Depth-Area-Duration Curves: Spatial Variability

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Intensity Duration Analysis

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Intensity Duration Analysis

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Intensity Duration Analysis

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Intensity Duration Analysis

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Intensity Duration Analysis

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Intensity Duration Analysis

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Intensity Duration Analysis

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Intensity-Frequency-Duration Analysis

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Intensity-Frequency-Duration Analysis

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Intensity-Frequency-Duration Analysis

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 Descriptive Questions
S.no Questions
1 Explain the Hydrological cycle with Hortons’ Representation

2 A catchment is idealized as a 25km × 25km square. It has five rain

gauges, one at each corner and one at the center, as shown in the
figure. During a month , the precipitation at these gauges is measured
as G1=300 mm, G2=285 mm, G3=272 mm, G4=290 mm and G5=288
mm.
Measure The average precipitation (in mm, up to one decimal place)
over the catchment during this month by using the Thiessen polygon
method
3 Justify the Importance of Hydrology in detail
4 Point rainfalls due to a storm at several rain-gauge stations in a
basin are shown in Fig. blow. Determine the mean areal depth of
rainfall over the basin by the isohyetal method.

5 Choose the best method for Determining the Average Rainfall Data

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S. Questions Marks
no
Explain Horton’s qualitative Representation of hydrologic 8
1
cycle, with neat sketch
2 Explain with a neat sketch, Symons's Rain gauge 6
A precipitation station X was inoperative for some time
during which a storm occurred. At three stations A,B and C
surrounding station X, The total precipitation recorded
3 during this storm are 75mm, 58mm and 47mm 6
respectively. The normal annual precipitation amounts at
X, A,B and C are respectively 757mm, 826mm,618mm and
482mm.Estimate the storm Precipitation at X

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S. Questions Marks
no
1 Explain Different type of Precipitation 8
2 Analysis of a storm yielded the following information 6
regarding isohyets. Calculate average depth of rainfall

The average annual rainfall at five existing stations in a

watershed are 1000 mm, 995mm, 800mm and 750mm. If the
3 average depth of rainfall should be estimated within 6 % 6
error. Determine the optimal number or rain gauge for the
watershed.

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S. Questions Marks
no
With Engineering representation, Explain hydrologic
1 6
cycle along with process involved in it
2 Explain how consistency of rainfall data is checked using 5
double mass curve technique
The average annual rainfall of 5 rain gauge station in a
basin are, 89, 68, 54, 45, 41, and 55 cm. If the error in
3 the estimation of basin rainfall should not exceed 10 %. 5
How many additional Raingauges should be installed in
the basin.

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GATE Questions
Sample
 GATE 2018- 2 marks
Rainfall depth over a watershed is monitored through 6 no of well
distributed rain gauges. Gauged data are given below. Thiessen mean value
(in mm, up to one decimal place) of the rainfall is __________

Answer: 478.5-479.5

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 GATE 2015 – 2 Marks

In a catchment, there are four rain gauge stations, P,Q,R and S. Normal
annual precipitation values at these stations are 780 mm, 850mm, 920
mm, and 980 mm, respectively. In the year 2013 Stations Q,R and S
were operative but P was not. Using the normal ratio method , the
precipitation at station P for the year 2013 has been estimated as 860
mm. if the observed precipitation stations at Q and R for the year 2013
were 930 mm and 1010 mm, respectively; what was the observed
precipitation (in mm) at station S for that year

Correct Answer is 1076.2

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 GATE 2013

An isohyet is a line joining points of

A. Equal Temperature
B. Equal Humidity
C. Equal Rainfall depth in specified time
D. Equal Evaporation

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 GATE 2013

An isohyet is a line joining points of

A. Equal Temperature
B. Equal Humidity
C. Equal Rainfall depth in specified time
D. Equal Evaporation

Isohyets are lines connecting points of equal rainfall intensity

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