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Spatial analysis and optimization of raingauge stations network in urban catchment using Weather Research and Forecasting model

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Abstract 

Hydrological modelling, especially in urban catchments, relies heavily on accurate rainfall data collection. Therefore, rainfall estimation and establishing a network of raingauge stations is essential, especially for regions with a limited number of stations. To simulate rainfall, the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model was used in this study based on the six schemes including Lin, WSM3, WSM5, WSM6, WDM5, and WDM6. Furthermore, optimal spatial design of raingauge networks has been achieved using geostatistical and deterministic interpolation methods of Radial Basis Function (RBF), Local Polynomial Interpolation (LPI), Co-Kriging (COK), Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW), Global Polynomial Interpolation (GPI), and Empirical Bayesian Kriging (EBK). Hence, the error reduction in estimating rainfall on non-station points was considered as an indicator to determine the optimal location of stations. This study was conducted in the Sabzevar urban catchment in northeastern Iran, which faces significant flood damages in a few raingauge stations. Initially, the 24-h rainfall data on the five events (from winter to spring 2019 ~ 2020), covering all types of rainfall associated with the seasons, were selected for analysis. The results revealed that among the WRF model schemes, the Lin was chosen as the most desirable scheme to simulate the rainfall in the catchment. A positive verification criterion result between 0.65 and 1 also shows that rainfall values can be estimated efficiently by this scheme over a distance of 18.85 km from the observational raingauge station. Furthermore, based on the interpolation results, the RBF method with the highest R2 (98%) was the most accurate method for the optimal location of the stations in non-station points, i.e., the WRF model outputs with observational stations. Overally, it can be concluded that using the WRF meteorological model combined with the RBF interpolation method could be appropriate for simulating the rainfall, designing the raingauge stations, and forecasting highly accurate 24-h rainfall, especially for the urban catchment without stations. The proposed approach used in this study is also recommended to develop the optimal design of raingauge networks of non-station points in large catchments.

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The authors did not receive support from any organization for the submitted work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Climatology, Faculty of Geography & Environmental Sciences, Hakim Sabzevari University, Sabzevar, Iran

    Rasoul Sarvestan & Mokhtar Karami

  2. Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Hakim Sabzevari University, Sabzevar, Iran

    Reza Javidi Sabbaghian

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  1. Rasoul Sarvestan
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  2. Mokhtar Karami
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  3. Reza Javidi Sabbaghian
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study’s conception and design. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by M Karami, R Javidi Sabaghiain, and R Sarvestan. The first draft of the manuscript was written by R Sarvestan and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Mokhtar Karami.

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Sarvestan, R., Karami, M. & Sabbaghian, R.J. Spatial analysis and optimization of raingauge stations network in urban catchment using Weather Research and Forecasting model. Theor Appl Climatol 153, 573–591 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-023-04476-3

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