Analysis of extreme rainfall in Barcelona using a microscale rain gauge network

Extreme storms registered by the urban rain gauge network installed and supported by CLABSA (Clavegueram de Barcelona S. A.) in Barcelona in the period 1994–2001 have been investigated. Eleven rain events presenting intensities for durations between 5 min and 24 h with return periods equal to or lar...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Casas Castillo, M. del Carmen|||0000-0002-7507-6195, Rodríguez Solá, Raúl|||0000-0002-9623-894X
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2010
País:España
Institución:Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)
Repositorio:UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPC
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:upcommons.upc.edu:2117/6733
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/2117/6733
https://dx.doi.org/10.1002/met.166
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Rain gauges
Rain and rainfall
Storms
Pluja
Tempestats
Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Física::Astronomia i astrofísica
Descripción
Sumario:Extreme storms registered by the urban rain gauge network installed and supported by CLABSA (Clavegueram de Barcelona S. A.) in Barcelona in the period 1994–2001 have been investigated. Eleven rain events presenting intensities for durations between 5 min and 24 h with return periods equal to or larger than 5 years for any of the network gauges have been found. A cluster analysis has yielded four main classes of extreme rainfall events in this area, related to the meteorological scales involved: local (18%), mesoscale (37%) and synoptic storms (27%), as well as more complex rain events originated by multiscale mechanisms acting together (18%). An intensity index to classify extreme rainfall events in order to their complexity and severity, taking into account the contribution of the different scales implied in the rainfall processes, has been calculated. The frequency distribution of the intensity index values obtained for the urban network has resulted very similar to that calculated for rain data recorded by the Jard´ı gauge of the Observatory Fabra of Barcelona during 1927–1992 inclusive.