Statistical characteristics of rainstorms derived from weather radar images
Date
2006
Authors
Qin, J.
Leonard, M.
Kuczera, G.
Thyer, M.
Lambert, M.
Metcalfe, A.
Editors
Geoff Brayford,
Advisors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Type:
Conference paper
Citation
30th Hydrology & Water Resources Symposium [electronic resource] : past, present & future, Hotel Grand Chancellor, Launceston, 4-7 December 2006: CD-ROM [6] p.
Statement of Responsibility
Juan Qin, Michael Leonard, George Kuczera, Mark Thyer, Andrew Metcalfe, Martin Lambert
Conference Name
Hydrology and Water Resources Symposium (30th : 2006 : Launceston, Tas.)
Abstract
The hydrologic response of urban catchments is sensitive to small scale space-time rainfall variations. A stochastic rainfall model must reproduce important statistics at these scales. Using an extensive database of weather radar images for the Sydney region, a detailed study of the variation of important statistics within and between storms is undertaken. The statistics include wet area ratio, correlation length scales, and transformation parameters to render the rainfield approximately Gaussian. It was found that large variation occurred within and between storms and that uni- and bivariate AR(1) models could adequately describe within-storm variation. The results suggest that key statistics describing the stochastic evolution of rainfields at 10-minute, 1 km<sup>2</sup>resolution exhibit strong time dependence. This has significant implications for the development of stochastic rainfall models at this scale.