Engineering Hydrology- Precipitation

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Spring 2021
 Today’s objectives are for you to be able to:
§ Define Precipitation

§ Describe precipitation spatial and temporal attributes

§ Learn techniques for precipitation measurements

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 Precipitation
What is Precipitation?
When you see rain or snow fall from above, you’re watching precipitation in action!
Precipitation is any liquid or frozen water that forms in the atmosphere and falls back
to the Earth.
Takes Many Shapes

Water vapors that form clouds come from evaporation from surface water bodies, from
irrigated areas, and evapotranspiration (ET) from vegetation. 3
 Precipitation
Precipitation is the primary input into a hydrological cycle and has a dominant effect on
streamflow and hillslope processes. Hydrologic modeling and water resources
assessments depend upon a knowledge of the form and amount of precipitation.
• Type • Duration • Intensity • Distribution (spatial variability)

Precipitation affects the amount, timing, spatial distribution, and quality of water added to
a watershed from the atmosphere.

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 Precipitation
Precipitation Distribution (spatial variability)

US Precipitation Map
 Precipitation
Precipitation Distribution (spatial variability)

Forty-five inches (1143 millimeters) of precipitation appears to be the threshold used

by NOAA-NCDC to outline the wettest places in the United States.
 Precipitation

Heavy precipitation occurs near the equator and decreases with the increase in the latitude i.e.
towards polar regions. Main source of moisture for ppt is evaporation from oceans. Therefore,
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ppt tends to be heavier near coastlines.
 Precipitation in Engineering design
•Runoff estimation analysis
•Groundwater recharge analysis
•Water balance studies of catchments
•Flood analysis for design of hydraulic structures
•Real-time flood forecasting
•low flow studies

Example 1. While designing a dam, it is necessary that the outlet capacity is adequate to safely
pass a high flood of certain magnitude. This critical flood is known as the design flood for the
structure. The type and magnitude of design flood depends upon the type and size of structure.
For this purpose, the hydro-projects are classified among the following categories:
1.Large or medium dams
2.Medium structures, such as barrages, road and railway bridges
3.Small or minor structures, such as cross-drainage works, minor irrigation tanks, and minor
road bridges
If long-term runoff data are not available, rainfall data that are generally available for a longer
period are used to estimate the design storm. This design storm, together with a suitable rainfall- 8
runoff model, is used to obtain a design flood.
 Precipitation
The relationship between atmospheric moisture and temperature must be understood to
understand the precipitation process. The form and quantity of precipitation influenced by the
action of climatic factors such as wind, temperature and atmospheric pressure.

Precipitable water is the amount of water potentially available in the atmosphere for
precipitation, usually measured in a vertical column that extends from the Earth's surface to the
upper edge of the troposphere. Precipitable Water (PW) indicates the amount of moisture there is
above a fixed point. It does not indicate how much it will rain but rather how much moisture is in
the air. For example, a Precipitable Water value of 1 inch does not indicate it will rain 1 inch but
rather indicates all the moisture above a location if condensed would be 1 inch.

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 Saturation
vapor pressure

The relationships among moisture content in the

atmosphere, temperature, and vapor pressure
determine the occurrence and amounts of
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evaporation and precipitation.
 PRECIPITATION PROCESS

Example 2.
The temperature at which a parcel of unsaturated air reaches its saturation vapor pressure is the
dew point temperature, 15.56 C in Figure for the air parcel A.
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 Precipitation
Precipitation occurs when the following three conditions are met:

(1) The atmosphere becomes saturated.

(2) Small particles or nuclei such as dust or ocean salt are present in the atmosphere upon
which condensation or sublimation can take place.
(3) Water or ice particles coalesce and grow large enough to reach the earth against
updrafts.

Clouds are made of water droplets. Within a cloud, water droplets condense onto one another,
causing the droplets to grow. When these water droplets get too heavy to stay suspended in the
cloud, they fall to Earth as rain.

Saturation results when either the air mass is cooled until the saturation vapor pressure
is reached or moisture is added to the air mass.

Condensation is the change of water vapor into a liquid. For condensation to occur, the air must
be at or near saturation in the presence of condensation nuclei.
The Making of A Cloud

Watch at home: All the Cloud Types 12

Watershed Engineering and Management

Rarely does a direct introduction of moist air cause precipitation.

More commonly, precipitation occurs when an air mass is lifted
in elevation, becomes cooled, and reaches its saturation vapor
pressure.

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Cyclonic precipitation :
Cyclonic precipitation is caused by the lifting of an air mass because of the
pressure difference. Cyclonic precipitation may be either frontal or non-frontal
cyclonic precipitation.
If one air mass passes over another air mass, the precipitation is frontal cyclonic
precipitation. Example: Tropical Cyclone

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Convective precipitation, characterized by summer thunderstorms, is the result
of excessive heating of the earth’s surface.

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Orographic precipitation occurs when general circulation forces an air mass
up and over a mountain range.

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 Methods of Rainfall Measurement

Weather forecasting and flood forecasting require estimates of rainfall occurring in “real time,”
meaning as it falls to the earth’s surface, or shortly thereafter. Radar provides qualitative
estimates of rainfall amounts and intensities over large areas during a storm, provided that radar
coverage is sufficient. Radars send out microwave signals in a narrow beam from its transmitter
in a very short time (about 1 millionth of a second). 18
Methods of Rainfall Measurement
GPM: Global Precipitation Measurement Mission

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Methods of Rainfall Measurement

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 Errors Associated with Rainfall Measurement
The accuracy of rainfall measurements is
affected by both gauge site characteristics and
the relationship of the location of gauges to the
watershed area. Before establishment of rain
gauge, the selection of a suitable place is very
important.
• Wind (keep about 1 m above the ground)
• Obstacles (place in open areas away from
trees and structures)
• Evaporation
• Annual measurement accuracy is 5-15% up to
75% for a single storm

Hydrologic studies of watersheds are often limited by an inadequate number of rainfall

gauges, the absence of long-term precipitation records. Two types of errors should be
considered when obtaining rainfall measurements. Instrumentation error is related to the
accuracy with which a gauge catches the true rainfall amount at a point while sampling error
is associated with how well the gauges on a watershed represent the rainfall over the entire
watershed area. Properly designing a network with an adequate number of gauges minimizes
sampling error. Accessibility and economic considerations usually determine the extent21 to
which sampling errors can be reduced
 Calculating Mean Rainfall on a Watershed
Average rainfall is the representative of large area, which is computed with the help of
rainfall data generated from well distributed raingauge network system of the watershed. The
computing methods are:
1. Arithmetic or station average method
2. Thiessen Polygon Method
3. Isohyetal Method.
Arithmetic Average Method
This method computes arithmetic average of the rainfall by considering point rainfall
observations of all the rain gauge stations installed in the area. This method computes accurate
value when rainfall is uniformly distributed in the entire area, as in this situation equal
weightage of area is assigned to the point rainfall data.

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 Calculating Mean Rainfall on a Watershed
When gauges are nonuniformly distributed over a watershed, the Thiessen polygon method
can improve estimates of rainfall amounts over the entire area. Polygons are formed from the
perpendicular bisectors of lines joining nearby gauges. This method computes better for the
areas having flat topography and size ranging from 500 to 5000 km2 .
1- Plot the locations of rain gauge stations on map of the area drawn to a scale.
2. Join each station by straight line.
3. Draw perpendicular bisectors of each line. These bisectors form polygons around each
station. Area enclosed within polygon is the effective area for the station. For a rain gauge
station close to the boundary, the boundary lines forms its effective area.
4. Determine effective area of each rain gauge station.

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 Calculating Mean Rainfall on a Watershed
Isohyetal Method
This is also a graphical method, in which an isohyets map is prepared with the help of measured
rainfall data of various rain gauges located in the watershed. An isohyet map includes a network o
isohyet lines. Each line represents a fixed value of rainfall depth. Computing steps are:
1- Collect the map of watershed. The map should to the scale.
2- Draw isohyet map with the help of measured rainfall data of various rain gauge stations
installed in the watershed.
3- Find the area enclosed between each isohyet.
4- Multiply the area enclosed between each isohyet by the average precipitation.

5- Find the sum of product of area enclosed and average of rainfall for all segments of Isohyet
map.
6. Divide the sum of the values found in step- 5 by the total area of the watershed.

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 Calculating Mean Rainfall on a Watershed
Isohyetal Method

Many hydrologists believe that this is theoretically the most accurate method of determining
mean watershed precipitation, but it is also by far the most laborious.
The accuracy of the isohyetal method depends largely on the skill of the analyst. An improper
analysis can lead to serious errors. The results obtained with the isohyetal method will be
essentially the same as those obtained with the Thiessen method if a linear interpolation between
stations is used. 25
Calculating Mean Rainfall on a Watershed

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https://prism.oregonstate.edu/
 Estimating Missing Data

One or more gauges in a rainfall network can become nonfunctioning for a period of
time.
One way to estimate the missing record for such a gauge is to use existing relationships
with adjacent gauges.

This Equation is recommended only if there is a high correlation with other stations

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