TY - JOUR
T1 - Characteristics of rainstorm temporal distributions in arid mountainous and coastal regions
AU - Al-Rawas, Ghazi Ali
AU - Valeo, Caterina
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors gratefully acknowledge Sultan Qaboos University in Oman and the University of Calgary for funding this work. The authors would also like to thank the Ministry of Regional Municipalities & Water Resources (MRMWR) in Oman and the City of Calgary in Canada for providing rainfall data. Thanks also to the reviewers of this manuscript for their constructive comments.
PY - 2009/9/30
Y1 - 2009/9/30
N2 - Data from 2042 rainstorm events occurring from 1983 to 2003 in the Rustaq watershed and surrounding area in Oman were used to develop hyetographs, or temporal distribution curves characteristic of arid climates. Orographic effects on rainfall were also investigated by separating the data into two regions, mountainous and coastal, and hyetographs were developed for both regions. The curves for both regions are similar and display a very high intensity at the beginning of the storm, which is known to be a characteristic of storms in arid regions. The new distributions were compared to other standard established distributions derived for regions in Canada and the United States. In addition, curves were developed for an area of southern Alberta which has a similar climate. From all the comparisons, the greatest similarity was found between the Oman and Calgary curves but there was significantly higher intensity earlier in the storm in the Oman curves. Significant differences between the mountainous and coastal regions in terms of rainfall amount were found but there was only a minor difference in rainstorm temporal distribution.
AB - Data from 2042 rainstorm events occurring from 1983 to 2003 in the Rustaq watershed and surrounding area in Oman were used to develop hyetographs, or temporal distribution curves characteristic of arid climates. Orographic effects on rainfall were also investigated by separating the data into two regions, mountainous and coastal, and hyetographs were developed for both regions. The curves for both regions are similar and display a very high intensity at the beginning of the storm, which is known to be a characteristic of storms in arid regions. The new distributions were compared to other standard established distributions derived for regions in Canada and the United States. In addition, curves were developed for an area of southern Alberta which has a similar climate. From all the comparisons, the greatest similarity was found between the Oman and Calgary curves but there was significantly higher intensity earlier in the storm in the Oman curves. Significant differences between the mountainous and coastal regions in terms of rainfall amount were found but there was only a minor difference in rainstorm temporal distribution.
KW - Arid regions
KW - Hyetograph
KW - Precipitation
KW - Rainfall temporal distribution
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U2 - 10.1016/j.jhydrol.2009.07.044
DO - 10.1016/j.jhydrol.2009.07.044
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:69849109787
SN - 0022-1694
VL - 376
SP - 318
EP - 326
JO - Journal of Hydrology
JF - Journal of Hydrology
IS - 1-2
ER -