Flood regionalization: A hybrid geographic and predictor-variable region-of-influence regression method

Journal of Hydrologic Engineering
By: , and 

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Abstract

To facilitate estimation of streamflow characteristics at an ungauged site, hydrologists often define a region of influence containing gauged sites hydrologically similar to the estimation site. This region can be defined either in geographic space or in the space of the variables that are used to predict streamflow (predictor variables). These approaches are complementary, and a combination of the two may be superior to either. Here we propose a hybrid region-of-influence (HRoI) regression method that combines the two approaches. The new method was applied with streamflow records from 1,091 gauges in the southeastern United States to estimate the 50-year peak flow (Q50). The HRoI approach yielded lower root-mean-square estimation errors and produced fewer extreme errors than either the predictor-variable or geographic region-of-influence approaches. It is concluded, for Q50 in the study region, that similarity with respect to the basin characteristics considered (area, slope, and annual precipitation) is important, but incomplete, and that the consideration of geographic proximity of stations provides a useful surrogate for characteristics that are not included in the analysis. ?? 2007 ASCE.
Publication type Article
Publication Subtype Journal Article
Title Flood regionalization: A hybrid geographic and predictor-variable region-of-influence regression method
Series title Journal of Hydrologic Engineering
DOI 10.1061/(ASCE)1084-0699(2007)12:6(585)
Volume 12
Issue 6
Year Published 2007
Language English
Larger Work Type Article
Larger Work Subtype Journal Article
Larger Work Title Journal of Hydrologic Engineering
First page 585
Last page 591
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