Rainfall data of high temporal resolution are required in a multitude of hydrological applications. In the present paper, a temporal rainfall disaggregation model is applied to convert daily time series into an hourly resolution. The model is based on the principles of random multiplicative cascade processes. Its parameters are dependent on (1) the volume and (2) the position in the rainfall sequence of the time interval with rainfall to be disaggregated. The aim is to compare parameters and performance of the model between two contrasting climates with different rainfall generating mechanisms, a semi-arid tropical (Brazil) and a temperate (United Kingdom) climate. In the range of time scales studied, the scale-invariant assumptions of the model are approximately equally well fulfilled for both climates. The model parameters differ distinctly between climates, reflecting the dominance of convective processes in the Brazilian rainfall and of advective processes associated with frontal passages in the British rainfall. In the British case, the parameters exhibit a slight seasonal variation consistent with the higher frequency of convection during summer. When applied for disaggregation, the model reproduces a range of hourly rainfall characteristics with a high accuracy in both climates. However, the overall model performance is somewhat better for the semi-arid tropical rainfall. In particular, extreme rainfall in the UK is overestimated whereas extreme rainfall in Brazil is well reproduced. Transferability of parameters in time is associated with larger uncertainty in the semi-arid climate due to its higher interannual variability and lower percentage of rainy intervals. For parameter transferability in space, no restrictions are found between the Brazilian stations whereas in the UK regional differences are more pronounced. The overall high accuracy of disaggregated data supports the potential usefulness of the model in hydrological applications.

Numerical values of hydraulic conductivities of river channel-lining materials are assembled from published and unpublished sources. These are found to cover a range from below 1.0 x 10(-9) to above 1.0 x 10(-2) m sec-1 and to be concentrated in the region 1.0 x 10(-7) to 1.0 x 10(-3) m sec-1. Variability within a site can be large. Assessment of the values in relation to sediment, scale, and method of determination presents a complex picture, and generalization is not straightforward. Hydraulic conductivity determinations from numerical modeling, which tends to be associated with averaging at larger spatial scales, are associated with a more conservative range of values than those derived from field and laboratory analyses. The sample of determinations provides a guideline basis of representative values for hydrological and hydrogeological assessment where specific investigation is not possible.

A unit hydrograph model is proposed in which the watershed is decomposed into subareas which are individual cells or zones of neighbouring cells. The unit hydrograph is found for each subarea and the response at the outlet to excess rainfall on each subarea is summed to produce the watershed runoff hydrograph. The cell to cell flow path to the watershed outlet is determined from a digital elevation model. A constant flow velocity is assigned to each cell and the time lag between subarea input and response at the watershed outlet is found by integrating the flow time along the path from the subarea to the outlet. The response function for a subarea is modelled as a lagged linear reservoir in which the flow time is equal to the sum of a time of translation and an average residence time in the reservoir. It is shown that the assumption of a spatially varying, but time-invariant, velocity field underlying this model produces a linear system model for all subareas whose outputs can be summed in the manner indicated. An example application is presented for the 8.70 km2 Severn watershed at Plynlimon in Wales using a 50 m digital elevation model in which the cell velocity is calculated by modifying an average watershed velocity according to the terrain slope and the drainage area of each cell. The resulting model reasonably reproduces the observed unit hydrograph.

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Abstract:The generalization of the parameters of rainfall-runoff models, to enable application at ungauged sites, is an important and ongoing area of research. This paper compares the performance of three alternative methods of generalization, for two parameter-sparse conceptual models (PDM and TATE), specifically for use in flood frequency estimation using continuous simulation. Two of the methods are based on fitting regression relationships between catchment properties and calibrated parameter values, using weighted or sequential regression (with weights based on estimates of calibration uncertainty), and the third is based on the use of pooling groups, defined through measures of site-similarity based on catchment properties. The study uses a relatively large sample of catchments in Britain.For the PDM, the site-similarity method performs best, but not greatly better than either regression method, so there may be cases where the use of regression would be preferable. For the TATE model, weighted regression performs best (with a very similar level of performance to that of the PDM with site-similarity), whereas site-similarity performs worst (due to poor performance for catchments with higher baseflow), indicating that the choice of model and generalization method should not be separated. The use of sequential regression, which was developed to try to allow for parameter interdependence, shows no clear advantage for either model. Other than the poor performance of the TATE model with site-similarity for catchments with a higher baseflow index, there are no clear relationships between performance of any model/method and catchment type.