Report No. 121 Peaks-Over-Threshold Fl Ood Database
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Institute of Hydrology Rep ort N o. 12 1 Pe aks -ove r-thre shold fl ood datab as e : Sunm i ary statistic s and s e as onality N atu ral Env ironme nt Re se arch Counc il á Report No. 121 Pe aks -ove r-thre shold fl ood datab as e : Sum m ary statistic s and s e asonality Adrian C. Bay liss & Richard C. Jone s M arc h 1993 Institute of Hydr ology Crowmarsh Giff ord Wall ingford Oxfords hire OXIO 813B UK © Copyright Institute of Hydr ology 1993 ISBN 0948 540 47 8 IH Rep ort No. 121 pub li shed by the Institute of Hydrology March 1993 British Library Cataloguing-in-Publi cation Data A catalogue record for this book is availab le from the British Library Abstrac t This report describes the growth of the peaks- received from other organizations and over-threshold (POT) database , the data individuals . extraction procedures adopted and considers briefly the seasonality of flooding . The datab ase Section 3 examines the seasonality of flooding now holds over 77,000 peaks for 857 gauging using two statistics - the modal month of flood stations throughout the lJK, with an ave rage (MMF) and the mean POT day of flood (MPD). record length of nearly 20 years. Annual MMF is calculated simply by identifying the maximum data are held for a further 116 calendar month during which most floods occur . stations where re cords proved unsuitable for Circular statistics are used to calculate MPD, POT extraction. Substantive appendices list the where each day of flood is plotted around the records he ld for individual stations, pre se nt circumfere nce of a circle and the mean of the statistics on POT series re cord length and angles found. This method also allows the seas onality and list maximum , median and calculation of a standard deviation about the me an values for ne arly 1000 annual maximum me an which indicates the spre ad of values series. through the year . After a short introduction. Section 2 records the The MMF using all POT values on the database updating of the POT datab ase since the Flood is January, with 18 per cent of all floods Studies Report. A set of rules was developed to occurring during this month. A map showing ensure that there was uniformity in the way data MMF, grouped by season, for all catchme nts were extracted and these procedures and demonstr ates that although winter is the definitions are given here . The extraction, dominant se ason for flooding in most are as of processing and validation of data are also dealt the UK, there are catchments where MMF with. Examples of the processed data illustrate occurs outside the winter period . Possible links the way data are held on the datab ase S Finally, betwee n catchment characteristics and both details are given re garding POT d ata MMF and MPD are explored. Conte nts 1 Introduc tion 2 Updating the pe ak s -ov er-thre shol d database 5 2.1 Station visits 5 2.2 Microfi lming of charts 5 2.3 Defi nition of terms and procedure s 5 2.4 Extraction of peak level data from microfilmed charts 6 2.5 Processing of level data 6 2.6 Data validation 8 2.7 Archiving the data 8 2 8 POT data suppli ed by other organizations and individuals 8 3 Se asonali ty of flooding 12 3.1 Modal month of flood 12 3.2 Mean POT day of flood 15 3.3 Stand ard deviation of the mean POT day of fl ood 17 Ac know le dg em ents 20 Re fere nc e s 20 Introducti on to the appe ndice s 21 Appe ndix 1 Re g ister of gauging stations 22 Appe ndix 2 Pe ak s -over-thre s hold statisti cs 36 Appe ndix 3 Annual m axim um s tatistics 48 2 1 Introduction Instantaneous peak flow records for over 550 continue to be a valuable source of information gauging stations we re presented in the Floo d to those requiring flood peak data. Studies Rep ort (FSR) Volume IV (NERC, 1975) along with tabulated catchment characteristics A second phase of extraction began at the and flood statistics. The collection, appraical, Department of the Environment's Water Data e xtraction and processing of these re cords Unit (WDU) in 1978, as a numb er of new stations formed a lar ge proportion of the te am's had the minimum require ment of thre e years of e ffort. data, and many of the records on the datab ase were extended up to September 1973. A third All the gauging stations used in the study were phase , beg un at the Institute of Hydrology (1H) in visited and graded according to the suitability of April 1985 under Ministry of Agriculture, the site for flood me asure ment. Charts from Fisheries and Food funding, was completed in suitable stations were microfilmed to enable the October 1991. The growth of the peaks-ove r- extraction of data to be carried out more easily thre shold (POT) database is illus trated below. and also to provide a permanent and accessible re cord . Rating curve information was collected The database now holds over 77.000 peaks for at the time of visit and subsequently reviewed to 857 gauging stations throughout the UK, with an ensure that the most appropriate stage - average re cord length of nearly twenty years. discharge relationship was used. Annual maximum series have been derived automatically from these data and are held The flood peak information collected during the independently on the database for easy acce ss. study produced a 'unique collection of flood Annual maxima are also held for a further 116 records '. However, it was felt that a periodic stations where records proved unsuitable for updating w as necessary if the archive was to POT extraction. ............ 1 0 0 0 • • • • 0 0 0 0 0 0 On o 0 0 0 0 0 0 • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• S O O. e n 18 0 0 18 7 0 18 8 0 18 9 0 19 0 0 19 10 19 2 0 19 3 0 19 4 0 19 5 0 19 0 0 1 9 7 0 19 8 0 19 9 0 Y ear of record Figure 1.1 Growth of the p eaks-over-threshold database 3 • O 100 000 200000 300000 400 00 0 500000 600000 100 0000 100000 900000 900000 • • • •• • • • • c• • • • • , 800000 • • • • • 80000 0 • • 6 % OH M . MAXIMASP IES Nu • • 0 • • • • • • , POT WO W W I KA/ 110 1 SUITES • • • 700000 • 0 700000 • • • •. • I. ••••• • • e • •• • 4 ' 0 9 . t o 0 o • 3 • • •• e • • • • 600000 S. • • 600000 • • • • • • . • • • • • • • • • • II • s o • • • 16 i tt • • •• • ° 11 • . 500000 • • • • 500000 • • • • • A O • • a • %dB • • • • ••• • • • I t •• • • • • I ob, • • • 400 000 • 44 a • • • • 400000 • r e • I t o I a • o h • • • • • : I • • • • • • , I • • I• $ e • I I • I . I • • 61% • • • • • 0 • • • / 3 l• • • • • • •• • •• • 1 • , • • • a • • a • - ••• • - e I • • • . a . I, o . as 0 . 4 t 3 0 0 0 0 0 • 0 • I • . • ID 9b • 300000 I I • • . e • • • . # • 4 % : It : • • • . • . me • . : . • . • ge • • • s • • • • • • • 60 lei ,, • .. c • • e ls • • e s . 6 0 . • • 6 • • • 00 . • s• t 200000 •do: 4 • • 4 • • el • ° 0 ' ; " . • • •a • • 0° a- • air 200000 4 ••• 41 • " 8 . " I • o. • : 1 it s• : . 41. t .to • • . 1 J 4:* •*6 1. • • . I 0 s: 0° • ° • ". • a t ''• ' • I I• • 0 • ° . I I : . • I I • : 0 0 I " 10 0 00 0 • e • • o os • 100 00 0 •• oo • Ice • • 1.°08 • 0 0 O 100 000 200 000 300000 40000 0 500000 600000 Fig ure 1.2 Gauging stations withfl oodpeak data on the 1H database 4 2 Updating the pe aks-ov e r-thre shold datab as e Most of the streamflow re cords at gauging microfilm greatly facilitate d the extr action of stations are originally held as levels in analogue data from the charts and the fi lms themse/ves or digital form and then conve rted to fl ows at a now form a valuable archive. later date using the app rop riate stage-disr harge relationship . The majority of digital re cords have 2.3 Defi nition of term s and a 15-minute interval and there fore cannot be proce dure s used for the extr action of tr uly instantaneous peaks , since there may be signifi cant A set of rules and procedures was developed as underestim ation of the peak fl ow for small and part of the Flood Studies Report to ensure that highly re sponsive catchme nts. there was uniformity in the way data were extr acted. Data in all phas es were extracted in The extraction.of peaks from a water level trace accord ance with these procedures whereve r on a chart has the advantage that the peaks are possible. A brief description of procedures and tr uly instantaneous and that artifi cial sp ikes on defi nitions is given here . the tr ace, perhaps re sulting from a sluice gate opening upstream, or the eff ect of tidal Threshold in = tutees influence, can be ignored by the microfi lm The threshold was chosen to give , on ave rage , reader. These unnatural events are diffi cult to fi ve peaks a year ab ove the selected flow. To sp ot in a digital rec ord and might be recorded achieve this ave rage a low thre shold was as a natural flood initially chosen to give more than fi ve peaks a year and then the thres hold progre ssively Although the extraction of data from microfi lmed raised until the appropriate level w as reached.