Abstract
A basic review regarding the origin of precipitation and its spatial and temporal distribution in the southern region of Mexico is presented. The origin of extreme rainfall events that caused severe damage in the Mexican states of Chiapas and Tabasco in October 2007 is analyzed in detail. The cartography of hydrologic variables is considered in its historical perspective, and the basis for the study of the spatial dependence of these variables in a geographical and physical environment is also introduced. An example of the interpretation of directional variograms is presented, and how this mathematical function can represent spatial variability and form rainfall patterns within a region through a kriging procedure is explained. Directional variograms for the rainy months in Chiapas and Tabasco are estimated. The analyses of satellite images confirm that theoretical variograms are the right tool to faithfully represent the spatial variability of a hydrologic phenomenon. The results presented in this paper show that there exist, in this region of Mexico, rain patterns that can be analyzed through geostatistical methods and that the selection of the variogram to carry out a kriging interpolation implies much more than a simple visual adjustment.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Becerra R, Gutieerrez-López A (2006) Modelación hidrológica empleando isoyetas de relieve, una aproximación Geoestadística. In: Demuth S, Gustard A, Planos E, Scatena F, Servat E (eds) Climate variability and change—hydrological impacts, IAHS publication no. 308, pp 62–67
Creutin J, Obled C (1982) Objective analyses and mapping techniques for rainfall fields: an objective comparison. Water Resour Res 18(2):413–431
Demyanov V, Kanevski M, Chernov S, Savaliera E, Timonin V (1998) Neural network residual kriging application for climatic data. J Geogr Inf Decis Anal 2(2):215–232
Dubois G, Malczewski J, Cort MD (eds) (1998) Spatial interpolation comparison 97. J Geogr Inf Decis Anal 2 (1–2).. Special Issue
Garbutt DJ, Stern RD, Dennet MD, Elston J (1981) A comparison of the rainfall climate of eleven places in West Africa using a two-part model for daily rainfall. Arch Meteorol Geophys Bioklimatol B 29:137–155
Goovaerts P (2000) Geostatistical approaches for incorporating elevation into the spatial interpolation of rainfall. J Hydrol 228(1–2):113–129
Goze E (1990) Modèl estochastique de la pluviométrie au Sahel. Aplication à l’agronomie, Thèse de l’Université de Montpellier II, pp 119
Gutierrez-López A, Lebel T, Mejía R (2005) Estudio espacio-temporal del regimen pluviometrico en la zona meridional de la república mexicana. Revista Ingeniería Hidraulica en Mexico, IMTA XX(1):57–65
Hevesi JA, Flint AL, Istok JD (1992) Precipitation estimation in mountainous terrain using multivariate geostatistics. Part 1: structural analysis. J Appl Meteorol 31:661–676
Huang Y, Wong P, Gedeon T (1998) Spatial interpolation using fuzzy reasoning and genetic algorithms. J Geogr Inf Decis Anal 2(2):204–214
Hutchinson MF (1998) Interpolation of rainfall data with thin plate smoothing splines: II analysis of topographic dependence. J Geogr Inf Decis Anal 2(2):152–167
Lebel T, Laborde J (1988) A geostatistical approach for areal rainfall statistics assessment. Stoch Hydrol Hydraul 2:245–261
Lloyd CD (2005) Assessing the effect of integrating elevation data into the estimation of monthly precipitation in Great Britain. J Hydrol 308(1–4):128
Matheron G (1970) La théorie des variables régionalisées et ses applications. ESMP, Cahiers du Centre de Morphologie Mathématique Fasc 5
Paihua L (1978) Un ensemble de programmes pour l’interpolation des fonctions par fonction spline de type plaque-mince. Rapport de recherche No. 140, USMG-INPG, France
Valdes M, Cortez M, Pastrana J (2005) Un estudio explorativo de los sistemas convectivos de mesoescala de Mexico. Inv Geogr 56:26–42
Acknowledgments
The authors thank Jose Luis Carrasco Martinez for satellite imagery, Ms. Ivonne Cruz Paz for valuable assistance in the technical review of the manuscript, and Ms. Martha Roman Juarez for the capture and processing of the database of precipitation for this region.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Gutierrez-López, A., Meza-Ruiz, M., Vargas-Baecheler, J. (2020). Analysis of the Spatial Dependence of Rainfall Fields in the Southeast of Mexico, Using Directional Variograms. In: Raynal-Villasenor, J. (eds) Water Resources of Mexico. World Water Resources, vol 6. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-40686-8_14
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-40686-8_14
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-40685-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-40686-8
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)