Abstract
AbstractA spatial rainfall model was applied to radar data of air mass thunderstorms to yield a rainstorm representation as a set of convective rain cells. The modeled rainfall was used as input into hydrological model, instead of the standard radar‐grid data. This approach allows a comprehensive linkage between runoff responses and rainfall structures. Copyright © 2005 Royal Meteorological Society
Highlights
Complex interactions exist between the spatiotemporal structure of rain systems and watershed hydrological response
We used the dense gauge network in the Walnut Gulch Experimental Watershed (WGEW). These data had already been used to remove the overall bias from the radar rainfall estimations (Section 2), they still provided a set of relatively independent observations
Because this modeling process recognizes rainfall spatial patterns that may play an important role in runoff generation, we evaluated the possibility of using the modeled rainfall as input to a hydrological model
Summary
Complex interactions exist between the spatiotemporal structure of rain systems and watershed hydrological response While this is a long-standing research issue in hydrology, a comprehensive study of these interactions requires detailed rainfall data in space and time that were effectively unavailable until recently. A new type of rainfall data, coming from weather radar systems, has become available This new technology permits a detailed view of the rainstorm over the watershed with high spatial and temporal resolution. It was hoped that the use of detailed radar rainfall information as input into hydrological models representing the watershed hydrological response would significantly improve understanding of rainfall-runoff processes and help in predicting their outcome. We suggest explicitly representing the rainfall through application of a rainfall model This approach will allow a direct linkage between rainfall structures and watershed hydrological response by means of hydrological modeling. The modeled rainfall is applied to a distributed hydrological model and the sensitivity of runoff response to rainfall pattern is examined
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