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Topographical effects on the distributions of rainfall and 18 O distributions: a case in Miyake Island, Japan
Author(s) -
Tang Changyuan,
Shindo Shizuo,
Machida Isao
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
hydrological processes
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.222
H-Index - 161
eISSN - 1099-1085
pISSN - 0885-6087
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1099-1085(19980330)12:4<673::aid-hyp608>3.0.co;2-y
Subject(s) - precipitation , altitude (triangle) , spatial distribution , environmental science , climatology , sea level , quantitative precipitation estimation , physical geography , atmospheric sciences , geology , meteorology , geography , mathematics , remote sensing , geometry
In this paper, we try to calculate precipitation in Miyake Island, Japan. In order to know the temporal and spatial variations of precipitation, we have set 15 rain gauges randomly in the island to collect the monthly precipitation data since June 1994. It is found that the precipitation is very different from point to point. First, we used statistical methods to get the correlations between the monthly precipitation at our survey points and that at the weather station. Next, regression analyses were used to establish formulae to calculate precipitation as a function of altitude, aspect of the geomorphological surface and wind direction. Based on these results, distributions of monthly and yearly precipitation and δ 18 O over the island were assessed. The results show that landscape patterns strongly influence precipitation distribution over the island, with the highest precipitation being found on the windward side, about 400–600 m above sea level. Even at places at the same altitude, the precipitation was different because of the aspect of the landscape. At the same time, altitude effects for δ 18 O on both the windward and leeward sides were −0·10‰/100 m and −0·15‰/100 m, respectively. Comparing with the distribution of precipitation distribution, it was also found that δ 18 O for the windward and leeward sides was different from that for precipitation, which means that both topographical effects must be considered separately. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.