Uncertainty Analysis in the Evaluation of the DDF Curves Parameters in Climate Change Scenarios

Abstract On the global scale, there is a robust observational evidence that, over the last decades, the frequency and intensity of extreme events significantly changed, even if regional and local studies have highlighted complex and non-uniform spatial patterns. Climate change can cause increased rainfall intensities which leads to an additional impact on drainage systems, due to the alteration of magnitude and frequency of peak flows over their service life. For this reason, the design criteria of urban drainage infrastructures need to be revised and updated, in order to take into account the possible variations of extreme rainfall. In particular, the Depth-Duration-Frequency (DDF) curves,…

A BMA Analysis to Assess the Urbanization and Climate Change Impact on Urban Watershed Runoff

Abstract A reliable planning of urban drainage systems aimed at the mitigation of flooding, should take into account the possible change over time of impervious cover in the urban watershed and of the climate features. The present study proposes a methodology to analyze the changing in runoff response for a urban watershed accounting several plausible future states of new urbanization and climate. To this aim, several models simulating the evolution scenario of impervious watershed area and of climate change were adopted. However, it is known that an evolution scenario represents only one of all possible occurrence and it is not necessary the true future state, therefore it is needed to fin…

MODELLING RUNOFF WITH A CONCEPTUAL MODEL BASED ON INTEGRATION OF TOPOGRAPHIC INDEX IN A PROBABILITY DISTRIBUTED MODEL

Uncertainty related to climate change in the assessment of the DDF curve parameters

In the context of climate change, the evaluation of the parameters of Depth-Duration-Frequency (DDF) curves has become a critical issue. Neglecting future rainfall variations could result in an overestimation/underestimation of DDF parameters and, consequently, of the design storm. In this study, uncertainty analysis was integrated into trend analysis to provide an estimate of trends that cannot actually be rigorously verified. A Bayesian procedure was suggested for the updating of DDF curve parameters and to evaluate the uncertainty related to their assessment. The proposed procedure also allowed identification of the years of a series that contributed most to the overall uncertainty relat…

Mappatura del deflusso annuo superficiale in Sicilia

Nella risoluzione di numerosi problemi pratici dell’idrologia delle acque superficiali è importante poter far affidamento su informazioni relative ai deflussi che siano contemporaneamente affidabili e diffuse sul territorio.La creazione di uno strumento capace di restituire il deflusso e soprattutto la portata che attraversa una determinata sezione di un corso d’acqua è di fondamentale importanza sia per la pianificazione delle risorse idriche in una data regione sia per l’individuazione delle possibili zone soggette al rischio della desertificazione. La stima del deflusso superficiale permette inoltre la determinazione dei concentrazione degli inquinanti, concentrati o diffusi, nei corpi i…

Spatial distribution of temperature trends in Sicily

Climate change resulting from the enhanced greenhouse effect is expected to have great impacts on hydrological cycle and consequently on ecosystems. The effects of climate variability have direct implications on water management, as water availability is related to changes in temperature and precipitation regimes. At the same time, this kind of alterations drives ecological impacts on flora and fauna. For these reasons, many studies have been carried out to investigate the existence of some tendency in temperature and/or precipitation series in different geographic domains. In order to verify the hypothesis of temperature increase in Sicily (Italy), temperature data from about 80 spatially …

Basin-Scale Water Resources Assessment in Oklahoma under Synthetic Climate Change Scenarios Using a Fully Distributed Hydrologic Model

Climate change resulting from the enhanced greenhouse effect is expected to have significant implications for the hydrological cycle. Several studies have pointed out the importance of basin-scale investigations for determining regional impacts on water resources, including the effects of floods and droughts. In this study, a fully distributed hydrologic model is used to assess the potential impacts of climate change on water availability in a basin in Oklahoma United States . With this aim, the hydrologic model was applied for current conditions as well as under the hypotheses of climate variations represented by scenarios consistent with a climatic trend analysis generated using a stochas…

Distribuzione spaziale dei trend pluviometrici in Sicilia (1921-2000)

Trend analysis of climatic indexes in Sicily

Identification of Potential Locations for Run-of-River Hydropower Plants Using a GIS-Based Procedure

The increasing demand for renewable and sustainable energy sources has encouraged the development of small run-of-river plants. Preliminary studies are required to assess the technical and economic feasibility of such plants. In this context, the identification of optimal potential run-of-river sites has become a key issue. In this paper, an approach that is based on GIS tools coupled with a hydrological model has been applied to detect potential locations for a run-of-river plant. A great number of locations has been analyzed to identify those that could assure the achievement of different thresholds of potential power. The environmental and economic feasibility for small hydropower projec…

ANALISI DEI TREND DI INDICI CLIMATICI IN SICILIA

Influence of serial correlation on climatic variables trends analysis in Sicily

Basin-scale water resources assessment in a sicilian basin under climate change scenarios using the conceptual model TOPDM

Climate change resulting due to the greenhouse effect is expected to have great implications for hydrological cycle and for existing surface and groundwater resources systems. The effects of climate variability and climate change have to be fully considered in current water management and planning, since water availability, quality and streamflow are very sensitive to changes in temperature and precipitation regimes. International literature proposes several models, attempting to assess accurately the available water resources under stationary and changing climatic conditions at different spatial and temporal scales. In order to assess the potential impacts of climate change on surface and …

Time Series Analysis of Climatic Vegetation Data in the Oreto Watershed in Sicily

Analisi dei trend climatici in Sicilia

Modifications in Water Resources Availability Under Climate Changes: A Case Study in a Sicilian Basin

Climate variability due to the greenhouse effect has important implications on hydrological processes and water resources systems. Indeed, water availability, quality and streamflow are very sensitive to changes in temperature and precipitation regimes whose effects have to be fully considered in current water management and planning. International literature proposes several models, attempting to assess accurately the available water resources under stationary and changing climatic conditions at different spatial and temporal scales. In order to assess the potential impacts of climate change on surface and groundwater resources water availability in a Southern area of Italy, a conceptual h…

Wind speed and temperature trends impacts on reference evapotranspiration in Southern Italy

In this study, the impacts of both temperature and wind speed trends on reference evapotranspiration have been assessed using as a case study the Southern Italy, which present a wide variety of combination of such climatic variables trends in terms of direction and magnitude. The existence of statistically significant trends in wind speed and temperature from observational datasets, measured in ten stations over Southern Italy during the period 1968–2004, has been investigated. Time series have been examined using the Mann–Kendall nonparametric statistical test in order to detect possible evidences of wind speed and temperature trends at different temporal resolution and significance level.…

Trend dei deflussi in Sicilia

Gli effetti del cambiamento climatico si manifestano in maniera apprezzabile nelle modifiche subite da precipitazioni, temperatura e deflussi, in numerose località del pianeta, non solo con riferimento alla loro entità, più frequentemente indagata, ma anche riguardo alla loro variabilità nel corso dell’anno. In riferimento a questo secondo aspetto, con il lavoro qui riportato, si è voluto indagare circa l’esistenza o meno di un trend nella durata delle stagioni e nella quantità di risorsa idrica prodotta durante le stagioni stesse. Queste in genere sono identificate con criteri legati alle cadenze mensili che tengono conto solo sommariamente dell’effettiva variazione climatica stagionale; p…

Time series analysis of climate and vegetation variables in the Oreto watershed (Sicily, Italy)