Modelling the extreme hydrological event of Summer 2007 in the Severn Uplands from gauge and radar rainfall sources

Abstract

This paper provides a comparison of gauge interpolated and radar derived precipitation data sources for an uplandcatchment in the UK for a time period when extreme hydrological conditions were prevalent. Subsequently,a performance measure was used to evaluate the accuracy of hydrological simulation of extreme conditions usingthe two independent precipitation data sources within a HEC-HMS modelling framework. Discrepancies betweengauge and radar time-series precipitation records were found to coincide with elevation, spatial distributionof precipitation and distance from the radar source. The Nash-Sutcliffe performance measure indicated thatdespite the higher temporal and spatial resolution of the radar data, interpolated gauging station records producedcomparative accuracy when replicating the extreme hydrological event of Summer 200