In collaboration with Iranian Watershed Management Association

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Scientific Board, Agricultural and Natural Resources Research Center, Isfahan, Iran

2 MSc, Agricultural and Natural Resources Research Center, Isfahan, Iran

3 Associate Professor, Soil Conservation and Watershed Management Research Institute, Iran

Abstract

Flood risk estimation is one of the most important subjects for Hydrologists. The main objective of flood risk estimation is study on past events in order to determine the following flood risk. There are various methods for flood risk estimation. Rainfall- runoff and empirical equations are the most recently used methods. In these methods, rainfall is the main parameter influencing flood mechanism. In this research, spatial distribution of rainfall pattern in Esfahan province is studied. Esfahan province with 10.5 million ha area is located in central part of Iran with different topography, climate and ecological condition. A number of 203 rainguages, located in the study area and nearby, were studied. Recorded data of 32 years, from 1968-2000 and a total number of 1654 storm events with less than 1 hour to 72 hours duration were investigated and three index events, i.e. widespread and maximum events, were used. The common methods of geostatistics like kriging, Co-kriging, IDW and TPSS were applied to interpolate the recorded points to non-observed ones. Results showed a low correlation between rainfall and elevation in the study area. Among the studied interpolation methods, kriging showed the best results, from which the Gussian and Spherical models best fitted to the observed points. In order to gain best results, it is recommended to add the number of rainfall gauge sites according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) standards. Also, grouping the study area into homogeneous regions and studying DAD in each homogeneous region is advised.

Keywords