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Evaluation of rain gauge network in arid regions using geostatistical approach: case study in northern Oman

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Abstract

A geostatistical approach based on ordinary kriging is presented for the evaluation and the augmentation of an existing rain gauge network. The evaluation is based on estimating the percentage of the area that achieves a targeted level of acceptable accuracy. The variances of kriging estimation erros at un-gauged locations were assumed to be normally distributed. Kriging estimation erros with a probability that equals to or exceeds a given threshold value of acceptance probability were assumed to have satisfactory accuracies. The percentage of the area that achieved the targeted probability of acceptance is delineated and used to judge the overall performance of the existing rain gauge network. A study area in northern Oman located in Sohar governorate is selected as the pilot case. The area has 34 rain gauges and it is characterized by a terrain surface that varies from coastal plain to mountains. For a threshold value of 0.85, and 0.90 of acceptance probability, the existing network achieved area of acceptable probability of 88.71 and 77.72 %, respectively. For a success criterion of 80 %, the existing rain gauge network indicated acceptable performance for acceptance probability threshold of 0.85 and inadequate performance is noticed in the case of probability threshold of 0.90, which necessitated further network augmentation. A sequential algorithm for ranking and prioritization of the existing rain gauges is used to classify the existing rain gauges into base and non-base rain gauges. The base rain gauge network for mean annual rainfall comprised about 29 of the existing rain gauges. The identified non-base rain gauges were sequentially relocated to achieve higher levels of percentage of area with acceptable accuracy. The percentage of area with acceptable accuracy increased from 88.71 % for the original rain gauge network to about 94.51 % for the augmented network by adding four rain gages at probability acceptance threshold of 0.85. It also increased from 77.72 % for the existing network to 90.50 % for the augmented rain gauge network at acceptance threshold of 0.9.

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Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments are due to Dar Al Handasah, Shair and partners for providing the needed software tools logistical support to the authors during the study. Special thanks to Prof. Alaa Alzawahry from Cairo University, Egypt, for his guidance and support provided through the study. The authors are grateful to the Ministry of Regional Municipalities and Water Resources in the Sultanate of Oman for providing the rainfall records for the case study. Finally, authors would like to express their gratitude and thanks to the anonymous reviewer and editor for their comments and suggestions that significantly enhanced the quality of the paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Irrigation and Hydraulics, Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University, Dokki, Giza, 12613, Egypt

    Mohammed Haggag

  2. Dar Al-Handasah, Shair and Partners, Giza, Egypt

    Mohammed Haggag, Ahmed A. Elsayed & Ayman G. Awadallah

  3. Civil Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Fayoum University, Fayoum, Egypt

    Ayman G. Awadallah

Authors
  1. Mohammed Haggag
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  2. Ahmed A. Elsayed
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  3. Ayman G. Awadallah
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Correspondence to Mohammed Haggag.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Water Resources in Arid Areas

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Haggag, M., A. Elsayed, A. & G. Awadallah, A. Evaluation of rain gauge network in arid regions using geostatistical approach: case study in northern Oman. Arab J Geosci 9, 552 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-016-2576-6

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