Uncertanly assesment in the prediction of extreme rainfall events: an example from the Central Spanish Pyrenees

Extreme rainfall events occur frequently in the central Pyrenees, but they are responsible for mass movements and short, very intense erosion periods, accompanied at times by loss of human and high costs of infrastructure. This paper tries to assess the existence of patterns in the spatial distribut...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: García-Ruiz, J.M. [0000-0002-8535-817X], Arnáez, J. [0000-0001-8248-5272], White, S.M., Lorente, A., Beguería, S. [0000-0002-3974-2947]
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2000
País:España
Institución:Universidad de La Rioja (UR)
Repositorio:RIUR. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de La Rioja
OAI Identifier:oai:portal.dialnet.es:doc/5bbc6822b750603269e8032f
Acceso en línea:https://investigacion.unirioja.es/documentos/5bbc6822b750603269e8032f
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Extreme rainfall events
Hydromorphological risks
Return periods
Spanish Pyrenees
Spatial patterns
Descripción
Sumario:Extreme rainfall events occur frequently in the central Pyrenees, but they are responsible for mass movements and short, very intense erosion periods, accompanied at times by loss of human and high costs of infrastructure. This paper tries to assess the existence of patterns in the spatial distribution of maximum precipitation. The calculation of return periods of the most intense rainfall demonstrates that in the Pyrenees it exhibits an erratic spatial and temporal distribution and can be extremely localized. In the case of precipitation between 150 and 200 mm in 24 h, some influence from the surrounding relief has been found, but this is not the case for precipitation exceeding 200 mm, characterized by the absence of patterns governing their spatial distribution. Geomorphological approaches are, therefore, the only way for assessing the areas more subject to hydromorphological risks. Copyright (C) 2000 John Wiley and Sons, Ltd.Extreme rainfall events occur frequently in the central Pyrenees, but they are responsible for mass movements and short, very intense erosion periods, accompanied at times by loss of human life and high costs of infrastructure. This paper tries to assess the existence of patterns in the spatial distribution of maximum precipitation. The calculation of return periods of the most intense rainfall demonstrates that in the Pyrenees it exhibits an erratic spatial and temporal distribution and can be extremely localized. In the case of precipitation between 150 and 200 mm in 24 h, some influence from the surrounding relief has been found, but this is not the case for precipitation exceeding 200 mm, characterized by the absence of patterns governing their spatial distribution. Geomorphological approaches are, therefore, the only way for assessing the areas more subject to hydromorphological risks.