Flood characteristics of Mississippi streams
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Abstract
Flood magnitudes for selected recurrence intervals from 2 to 500 years were determined for 330 gaged sites in the study area where annual peak-flow records have been collected. The principal study area is Mississippi; however, selected data collected in adjoining States on streams draining into or from Mississippi are also included, flood frequency at a gaged stream site is defined by fitting the Pearson Type III probability distribution to the log-transformed annual peaks. The accuracy of the flood frequency determined for a gaged site is determined primarily by the number of years of annual peak-flow record (the sample size). Greater accuracy is achieved in the current analysis than in previous analyses because of the additional years of annual peak-flow record. Flood-frequency and basin characteristics at gaged sites were used to develop regression equations for estimating flood frequency where annual peak-flow records are not available.
Flood frequency for ungaged stream sites in Mississippi may be estimated using basin characteristics in regression equations. Regression equations were computed using the generalized-least-squares procedure rather than the ordinary-least-squares procedure used in previous regional hydrologic analyses. The generalized-least-squares procedure considers the variable error of the gaging station flood frequencies and corrects for the cross-correlation of concurrent annual peaks. When the gaging stations in the sample for regression analysis have widely varying record lengths and concurrent peak flows, which are correlated between sites, the generalizedleast-squares procedure provides more accurate estimates of the regression coefficients and model error than does the ordinary-least-squares procedure. These flood-frequency equations provide managers with improved tools for estimating flood frequencies for purposes of management and design.
Study Area
| Publication type | Report |
|---|---|
| Publication Subtype | USGS Numbered Series |
| Title | Flood characteristics of Mississippi streams |
| Series title | Water-Resources Investigations Report |
| Series number | 91-4037 |
| DOI | 10.3133/wri914037 |
| Year Published | 1991 |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | U.S. Geological Survey |
| Description | vi, 82 p. |
| Country | United States |
| State | Mississippi |
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