A parsimonious approach for regional design rainfall estimation: the case study of Athens

T. Iliopoulou, and D. Koutsoyiannis, A parsimonious approach for regional design rainfall estimation: the case study of Athens, Proceedings of 7th IAHR Europe Congress "Innovative Water Management in a Changing Climate”, Athens, International Association for Hydro-Environment Engineering and Research (IAHR), 2022.

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[English]

Design rainfall estimation at the regional scale is the cornerstone of hydrological design against flooding, particularly essential for ungauged areas. We devise a parsimonious and flexible methodology for regional estimation of rainfall extremes for time scales of minutes up to a few days and any return period, i.e. producing the ombrian curves. Estimation of the distribution parameters is performed by an advanced regional pooling approach employing knowable (K-) moments that allow reliable high-order moment estimation and handling of space dependence; which is non-negligible in homogenous regions. The regionalization approach is based on elevation, which is often sufficient to explain the rainfall variability within a generally homogenous climatic region. The methodology is effectively applied in the Attica region, comprising Athens and its surrounding basins.

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