Rainfall network systems analysis: The optimal estimation of total areal storm depth

Abstract

The design of rainfall networks for the purpose of estimating areal averages of rainfall is formulated as a mathematical programing problem whose objective function is the minimization of the cost and mean square error of the network and whose decision variables are the total number of rain gages, the coordinates of each of them, and the estimator weights. A two‐stage methodology is proposed, wherein the optimal configuration of the network is determined first, followed by the optimal estimator weights. A case study is presented in order to illustrate the various concepts developed in the paper.