Ecw351 Topic 2 Precipitation

Topic 2:
Precipitation
UiTMKS2/EC/BCBIDAUN/ECW351
Learning outcomes
Able to describe types of precipitation (CO1-PO3)
Able to explain various types of precipitation measurement (CO1 PO3)
Able to determine mean precipitation using Isohyetal, Thiessen and Mean

Arithmetic method (CO1 PO3)
Overview
2.1 Introduction
2.6 Determination of missing data
2.2 Forms of precipitation
2.6.1 Aritmetic mean method
2.3 Types of precipitation
2.6.2 Normal ratio method
2.3.1 Orographic
2.3.2 Convective
2.7.1 Arithmetic mean method
2.3.3 Cyclonic
2.7.2 Thiessen polygon method
2.7.3 Isohyetal method
2.4 Measurement of precipitation
2.4.1 Non recording
2.4.2 Recording
2.4.3 Weather radar
2.7 Analysis of rainfall data
2.5 Presentation of rainfall data
2.5.1 Rainfall hyetograph
2.5.2 Rainfall mass curve
2.1 Introduction
Precipitation describes all forms of water that reach the earth from the
atmosphere.
The magnitude and the forms of precipitation depends on temperature &

location different country, different season.
E.g. rainfall, snowfall, hail, frost, dew etc
Main source of precipitation is the water vapour derived by the evaporation at

the ocean.
Evaporation takes place from the oceans and water vapour is absorbed in the
air streams moving across the seas surface.
The moist air keeps the water vapour absorbed until it cools to below dewpoint temperature when the vapour is precipitated as rain, or if the
temperature is sufficiently low, as hails and snow.
Tropical climate like Malaysia , rainfall is important
Design need arise - rainfall occurs at extreme rates
High rainfall rates can cause flooding in urban areas
Absence of rain over long periods also reduce the stream flow and causing
lake levels to decline sharply
Requirement of rainfall data helps the hydrological planning and design works
Significance of the study of precipitation form:
Important aspects of rainfall
Collection and analysis of rainfall data
2.2 Forms of precipitation
Depending on the prevailing meteorological conditions in a particular area,

precipitation may occur mainly in two forms:
Liquid precipitation rain & drizzle
Frozen precipitation snow, glaze, sleet, hail and freezing rain.
Rain
Major form of precipitation.
The term rainfall is used to describe precipitations in the form of water drops
of sizes larger than 0.5 mm.
The maximum size is about 6 mm. Any drops larger than this size will tend to
break up into smaller sizes during its fall from the clouds.
Rainfall intensity :
Type
Intensity
Light rain
Trace to 2.5 mm/h
Moderate rain
2.5 mm/h to 7.5 mm/h
Heavy rain
> 7.5 mm/h

7
Rainfall
Snow
Snow consists of ice crystals which usually combine to form snow flakes.
Drizzle
A fine sprinkle of numerous water droplets of size less than 0.5 mm and intensity
less than 1 mm/h is known as drizzle. Because the drops are so small, they
appear to float in the air.
10
Sleet
Sleet falls as small balls of ice. Sleet is often mixed with snow or freezing rain, so
can leave an icy, slushy covering on roads.
11
Hail
It is showery precipitation in the form of irregular pellets or lumps of ice
of size more than 8 mm.
12
Frost
13
Glaze
Freezing rain, falls as liquid, and then forms a coating of ice on exposed surfaces.
Often, the icing only occurs on elevated surfaces, such as trees and power lines. The
greatest threat from this would be power outages. However, if the ground is cold
enough, the roads may become icy, and this is a particularly dangerous situation.
14
Freezing rain
15
2.3 Types of precipitation
Precipitation is classified according to the type of mechanism that produces

it.
3 types of precipitation based on the mechanism are:
Orographic precipitation
Convective precipitation
Cyclonic precipitation
16
2.3.1 Orographic precipitation
Often seen in coastal areas where clouds sit around the peaks of a mountain
range.
Occurs due to mechanical lifting.
The process begins when winds carry moist air from a water surface (usually
the ocean) to a land surface.
If a mountain range blocks the path of the wind, the moist air must rise to
pass over them.
Air cools as it is forced up the mountain Patm decreases with elevation,

temperature decreases (increase in relative humidity).
Air temperature is lowered to a point where the saturation humidity is

reached, water vapor condenses and precipitation occurs.
Precipitation is deposited on the windward sides of mountain range.
17
Orographic precipitation
The mechanical lifting of moist air over mountain barriers, causes heavy
precipitation on the windward side
18
2.3.2 Convective precipitation
Most common in Malaysia.
Caused by heating of air at the interface with the ground.
Warm air rises and cools.
Water vapor condenses forming clouds hence rains.
May be in the form of light showers or storms of extremely high intensity.
Typical for tropical regions.
19
20
21
2.3.3 Cyclonic precipitation
Cyclonic precipitation results from the meeting of two air masses of different
temperature (pressure difference) typically when warm tropical air meets
cold polar air.
Non-frontal precipitation: If low pressure occurs in an area, air will flow

horizontally from the surrounding area, causing the air in the low pressure
area to lift.
Frontal cyclonic precipitation: if one air mass lifts over another air mass.
When a warm air mass and cold air mass meet, the warmer air mass is lifted
over the colder one with the formation of a zone or boundary called front. It
is accompanied by rather abrupt changes in temperature, pressure and
humidity. Warm air always forced upwards, cools down to dew point clouds
& precipitation
2 types of fronts: warm front & cold front
22
Cold front
Cold air overtakes warm air, it pushes in under it and again warm air is
forced to rise.
23
Warm Front
Warm air overtakes colder air, it will rise up on top of the cold air
because of lesser density. To observer on ground, initially he would feel
relatively cold and clouds would form overhead
24
Front
25
2.4 Measurement of precipitation
Precipitation is expressed in terms of the depth to which rainfall water would

stand on an area if all the rain were collected on it.
E.g. 1 cm of rainfall over a catchment area of 1 km2 represents a volume of

water equal to 104 m3.
Precipitation is collected and measured in a rain gauge.
Method used to measure rainfall:
Non-recording gauges
Recording gauge
Weather radar
26
For placement of a rain gauge the

following considerations are important:
The ground must be level and in the open, and the instrument must present a
horizontal catch surface.
The gauge must be set as near the ground as possible to reduce wind effects
but it must be sufficiently high to prevent splashing, flooding etc.
The instrument must be surrounded by an open fenced area of at least 5.5 m

x 5.5 m. No object should be nearer to the instrument than 30 m or twice the
height of the obstruction.
27
2.4.1 Non-recording gauges
Only gives the total rainfall between readings which are usually taken once a
day and measure in mm or cm of water depth.
Usually consists of a 12.7 cm diameter funnel that directs the rainfall into a
smaller diameter tube (bottle).
The rim of the collector is set in a horizontal plane at a height of 30.5 cm

above the GL.
Water collected in the bottle is measured using a suitably graduated

measuring jar with 0.1mm accuracy.
The receiving bottle cannot hold more than 10 cm of rain. Hence on days of
heavy rainfall, measurements are taken more frequently and the last reading
is taken at the normal time. The sum of the rainfall measurements over the
past 24h is entered as the total rainfall of that day.
28
29
30
2.4.2 Recording gauges
Produce a continuous plot of rainfall against time and provide valuable data
of intensity and duration of rainfall.
Common recording raingauges:
Tipping-bucket
Weighing-bucket
31
2.4.2.1 Tipping bucket
The catch from the funnel falls onto one of a pair of small buckets. These
buckets are so balanced that when 0.25mm of rain falls into one bucket, it
tips bringing the other bucket in position.
The water from the tipped bucket is collected in a can.
Tipping actuates an electrically driven pen to trace a record on the graph

paper mounted on a clock work driven drum.
Water collected in the can is measured at regular intervals to check the total
rainfall recorded.
The record from this raingauge gives the intensity of rainfall.
These can be installed in stations located in hilly and inaccessible areas.
32
33
2.4.2 Weighing bucket
The catch empties into a bucket mounted on a weighing scale.
The weight of the bucket and its contents are recorded on a clock work
driven chart.
The instrument gives a plot of cumulative rainfall against time (mass curve of
rainfall).
In some of the instruments, the recording unit is so devised that the pen
reverses its direction at a preset value.
34
35
2.4.3 Weather radar
Used to estimate rainfall.
Based on the principle of echo sounding.
High frequency electromagnetic waves are sent

out which travel at the speed of light.
Extremely small portion of this energy is reflected

by objects in the sky and detected by radar.
By calibration of echo intensity with rainfall - can

measure the rainfall density.
Use of weather radar together with the rain gauge

data provide useful estimates of rainfall for areas
not covered by rain gauges.
36
2.5 Presentation of rainfall data

Rainfall data can
be presented in
two graphical
forms
Rainfall
hyetograph
Rainfall mass
curve
37
2.5.1 Rainfall hyetograph
It is a graph of rainfall intensity

plotted against the time.
It is a simple presentation and

practical especially to show the
development of design storms to
predict extreme floods.
The area under a hyetograph

represents the total rainfall
received in a certain time.
38
2.5.2 Rainfall mass curve
Accumulated precipitation graph

plotted against time.
Rainfall mass curve used to extract

information regarding rainfall
magnitudes and durations.
Rainfall intensities at various time

interval in a particular storm can
also be obtained
39
2.6 Determination of missing data
Missing data may be encountered due to inoperative gauges.
Missing data can be estimated using the data from the neighbouring stations.
Two methods used to determine missing data:
data:
Arithmetic mean method vary < 10%
Normal ratio method vary > 10%
40
Averages the rainfall values of the surrounding gauges are calculated.
Applied to missing gauge provided the normal annual precipitation of the

surrounding gauges is within 10% of the missing gauges.
Let P1, P2, P3, PM are the annual rainfall neighbouring M stations 1, 2, 3,
, M respectively, the missing annual rainfall data, PX, at station X not
included in the M stations(still operating) calculated using the following
equation:
PX
P1 P2 P3 .... PM
41
2.6.2 Normal ratio method
If surrounding gauges have normal annual precipitation of more than 10% of

the normal annual precipitation at station X, then PX is estimated by weighing
the precipitation at various stations by the ratio of normal annual
precipitation.
P
P
P
N X 1 2 .... M
N2
NM
N1
PX
M
Where N1, N2, N3, .. NM are the normal annual precipitation at the
surrounding M stations(still working) and NX is the normal precipitation at
station X.
42
Example 2.1
The normal annual precipitation at stations P, Q, R and S are 80.97cm,

67.59cm, 76.28cm and 92.01cm. In a certain year, the data at station S was
missing due to a faulty gauge. Stations P, Q and R recorded annual
precipitations of 91.11cm, 72.23cm and 79.89cm respectively. Determine the
missing data at station S.
43
Solution for Example 2.1
The normal annual rainfall values vary more than 10% Therefore use the
normal ratio method to determine the missing data at station S
N P 80.79cm
N Q 67.59cm
N R 76.28cm
N S 92.01cm
PP 91.11cm
PQ 72.23cm
PR 79.89cm
PP
PQ
PR
NS
N
N
N
P
Q
R
PS
3
91.11 72.23 79.89
92.01
80.79 67.59 76.28
3
99.41cm
44
2.7 Analysis of rainfall data
Rain gauges represent only point sampling of the areal distribution of a storm.
In practice however, hydrological analysis requires a knowledge of the rainfall
over an area, such as over a catchment.
To convert the point rainfall values at various stations into an average value
over a catchment , three methods to determine the mean areal rainfall:
The arithmetic mean method
The Thiessen polygon method
The Isohyetal method
45
Assumes that each rain gauge represents the average rainfall that falls around
the gauge within the catchment area.
P1, P2, PN are the rainfall data in N stations within the catchment, mean
precipitation, P over the catchment calculated using arithmetic mean method
P1 P2 .... PN
P
N
46
2.7.2 Thiessen polygon method
Rainfall recorded at each station is

given a weightage on the basis of
an area closest to the station.
47
Thiessen polygon method procedure
Consider the catchment area in the

Figure given.
There are 3 rain gauge stations

located within the catchment and
another 3 more stations located
outside of the catchment.
Note: The catchment area is drawn

to scale and the positions of the 6
stations are marked on it.
48
Stations 1 to 6 are joined to form a

network of triangles.
Draw the perpendicular bisectors

for each of the sides of the triangle
These bisectors form a polygon

around each station
If the boundary of the catchment

cuts the bisectors, it will be taken
as the outer limit of the polygon
49
Station 1: bounding polygon is abcd
Station 2: bounding polygon is kade
The bounding polygons are called

Thiessen polygons.
Areas of the 6 Thiessen polygons

are determined either by
planimeter or by using overlay
grid.
50
Average rainfall over the catchment,

P1 A1 P2 A2 ... P6 A6
P
A1 A2 ... A6
51
Thus in general for M number of stations,
i 1
Pi Ai
Ai
i 1 Pi
A
M
Where the weightage factor for each station is,
Ai
A
52
Example 2.2
Compute the mean areal precipitation for the following data using the
arithmetic mean method and Thiessen polygon method.
Station No
Precipitation
(mm)
Area of Thiessen Polygon

(km2)
30.8
45
34.6
40
32.0
30
24.6
38
53
Solution Example 2.2
Using arithmetic mean method
P1 P2 .... PN
P
N
30.8 34.6 32.0 24.6
4
30.5mm
54
Solution Example 2.2
Using Thiessen Polygon method
P1 A1 P2 A2 P3 A3 P4 A4
P
A1 A2 A3 A4
30.8 45.0 34.6 40.0 32.0 30 24.6 38
153
30.49mm
55
Example 2.3
The location of six rain gauging stations in or near the catchment is shown in
the figure. The observed rainfall measured at these stations are given in the
table below together with the Thiessen weighing factors. Determine the mean
areal precipitation of the catchment using the Thiessen polygon method.
Rain gauge
Rainfall (mm)
45
39
32
34
27
48
0.28
0.135
0.275
0.19
0.025
0.095
Thiessen weight
factor
56
Solution for example 2.3
57
58
59
60
61
62

Rain gauge
Rainfall, P
(mm)
Polygon area
(km2)
Theissen Weight
W
PxW
(mm)
45
0.280
12.6
39
0.135
5.3
32
0.275
8.8
34
Should be
determined
from the drawn
diagram
0.190
6.5
27
0.025
0.7
48
0.095
4.6
Total
38.5
Mean areal precipitation using Thiessen polygon method is 38.5

mm
63
2.7.2 Isohyetal method
An isohyet is a line joining points of equal rainfall magnitude.
Catchment area is drawn to scale and the raingauge stations are marked.
The recorded values for which areal average P is to be determined are then
marked on the plot at appropriate stations.
Neighbouring stations are also considered.
64
Isohyets values are then drawn by considering point rainfalls as guide and
interpolating between them by the eye.
Area between the adjacent isohyets is determined by planimeter.
If the isohyets go out of catchment, catchment boundary is used as the

boundary line.
P2 P3
Pn 1 Pn
P1 P2
a1
... an 1
a2
2
2
2
P
A
65
66
Example 2.4
The isohyets due to the storm in a catchment is shown in the figure and the
area bounded by the isohyets are given in the table below. Determine the
mean and areal precipitation of the catchment using Isohyetal Method.
Isohyets
(cm)
12
12-10
10-8
8-6
6-4
Area
(km2)
30
140
80
180
20
67
68

Isohyets
Average
precipitation
(cm)
Area
(km2)
Fraction of
total area
Weighted
precipitation
(cm)
12.0
12.0
30
0.0667
0.800
12.0 10.0
11.0
140
0.3111
0.422
10.0-8.0
9.0
80
0.1778
1.600
8.0-6.0
7.0
180
0.40001
2.800
6.0-4.0
5.0
20
0.0444
0.222
450
1.000
8.844
Total
Mean areal precipitation using Thiessen polygon method is

8.844 mm
69
Example 2.5
Estimate the total volume of rainfall over a catchment area based on the
following observation carried out in the field.
Station
Observed rainfall
(mm)
265
198
145
114
81
Polygon area (ha)
518
770
906
1500
748
70

Station
Rainfall
P (m)
Polygon Area
A (ha)
PxA
(ha m)
0.265
518
317.27
0.198
770
152.46
0.145
906
131.37
0.114
1500
171.00
0.081
748
60.59
4442
832.69
Total
832.69
M ean areal precipitation
0.187m
4442
71
Example 2.6
The isohyets of a particular catchment area together with the area between
two isohyets are given in the table below. Compute the mean areal
precipitation using the Isohyetal method.
Isohyets
(cm)
127.0139.7
139.7152.4
152.4165.1
165.1177.8
177.8190.54
190.5203.2
Area
(km2)
181
388
337
311
104
26
72
Mean Precipitation,
P
(cm)
Area, A
(km2)
PxA
133.35
181
24 136
146.05
388
56 667
168.75
337
53 499
171.45
311
53 321
184.15
104
19 152
196.85
26
5 118
Total
1347
211 893
Mean areal precipitation = 211 893/1347
=157.3 cm
73
Why are there different types of precipitation?
Why precipitation is important to engineering? Give examples.
What is the behaviour of Malaysian rainfall?
How does humidity affects rainfall?
74
End
75

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Topic 2:

Able to describe types of precipitation (CO1-PO3)

Able to explain various types of precipitation measurement (CO1 PO3)

Able to determine mean precipitation using Isohyetal, Thiessen and Mean

2.6 Determination of missing data

2.2 Forms of precipitation

2.6.1 Aritmetic mean method

2.3 Types of precipitation

2.6.2 Normal ratio method

2.7.1 Arithmetic mean method

2.7.2 Thiessen polygon method

2.7.3 Isohyetal method

2.4 Measurement of precipitation

2.4.1 Non recording

2.4.3 Weather radar

2.7 Analysis of rainfall data

2.5 Presentation of rainfall data

2.5.1 Rainfall hyetograph

2.5.2 Rainfall mass curve

The magnitude and the forms of precipitation depends on temperature &

E.g. rainfall, snowfall, hail, frost, dew etc

Main source of precipitation is the water vapour derived by the evaporation at

Tropical climate like Malaysia , rainfall is important

Design need arise - rainfall occurs at extreme rates

High rainfall rates can cause flooding in urban areas

Significance of the study of precipitation form:

Important aspects of rainfall

Collection and analysis of rainfall data

2.2 Forms of precipitation

Depending on the prevailing meteorological conditions in a particular area,

Liquid precipitation rain & drizzle

Frozen precipitation snow, glaze, sleet, hail and freezing rain.

Major form of precipitation.

Trace to 2.5 mm/h

2.5 mm/h to 7.5 mm/h

> 7.5 mm/h

2.3 Types of precipitation

Precipitation is classified according to the type of mechanism that produces

3 types of precipitation based on the mechanism are:

2.3.1 Orographic precipitation

Occurs due to mechanical lifting.

Air cools as it is forced up the mountain Patm decreases with elevation,

Air temperature is lowered to a point where the saturation humidity is

Precipitation is deposited on the windward sides of mountain range.

2.3.2 Convective precipitation

Most common in Malaysia.

Caused by heating of air at the interface with the ground.

Warm air rises and cools.

Water vapor condenses forming clouds hence rains.

May be in the form of light showers or storms of extremely high intensity.

Typical for tropical regions.

2.3.3 Cyclonic precipitation

Non-frontal precipitation: If low pressure occurs in an area, air will flow

2 types of fronts: warm front & cold front

2.4 Measurement of precipitation

Precipitation is expressed in terms of the depth to which rainfall water would

E.g. 1 cm of rainfall over a catchment area of 1 km2 represents a volume of

Precipitation is collected and measured in a rain gauge.

Method used to measure rainfall:

For placement of a rain gauge the

The instrument must be surrounded by an open fenced area of at least 5.5 m

2.4.1 Non-recording gauges

The rim of the collector is set in a horizontal plane at a height of 30.5 cm

Water collected in the bottle is measured using a suitably graduated