Regional frequency analysis of annual maximum daily precipitation in Quebec, Canada

• Published in: Hydrological sciences journal Vol. 49; no. 4; pp. 717 - 735
• Main Authors: Onibon, H, Ouarda, TBMJ, Barbet, M, St-Hilaire, A, Bobee, B, Bruneau, P
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 01.08.2004
• Subjects: Canada, Quebec
• ISSN: 0262-6667
• DOI: 10.1623/hysj.49.4.717.54421

A complete regional analysis of daily precipitations is carried out in the southern half of the province of Quebec, Canada. The first step of the regional estimation procedure consists of delineating the homogeneous regions within the area of study and testing for homogeneity within each region. The delineation of homogeneous regions is based on using L-moment ratios. A simulation-based testing of statistical homogeneity allows one to verify the inter-site variability. The second step of the procedure deals with the identification of the regional distribution and the estimation of its parameters. The General Extreme Value (GEV) distribution was identified as an appropriate parent distribution. This distribution has already been recommended by several previous research studies for regional frequency analysis of precipitation extremes. The parameters of the GEV distribution are estimated based on the computation of the regional L-CV, L-C sub(s) and the mean of annual maximal daily precipitations. The third step consists of the estimation of precipitation quantiles corresponding to various return periods. The final procedure allows for the estimation of these quantiles at sites where no precipitation information is available. The use of a jack-knife resampling procedure with data from the province of Quebec allows one to demonstrate the robustness and efficiency of the regional estimation procedure. Values of the root mean square error were below 10% for a return period of 20 years, and 20% for a return period of 100 years.