Evaluation of an artificial neural network rainfall disaggregation model

Abstract

Previous research produced an artificial neural network (ANN) temporal rainfall disaggregation model. After proper training the model can disaggregate hourly rainfall records into sub-hourly time increments. In this paper we present results from continued evaluations of the performance of the ANN model specifically examining how the errors in the disaggregated rainfall hyetograph translate to errors in the prediction of the runoff hydrograph. Using a rainfall-runoff model of a hypothetical watershed we compare the runoff hydrographs produced by the ANN-predicted 15-minute increment rainfall pattern to runoff hydrographs produced by (1) the observed 15-minute increment rainfall pattern, (2) the observed hourly-increment rainfall pattern, and (3) the 15-minute increment rainfall pattern produced by a disaggregation model based on geometric similarity. For 98 test storms the peak discharges produced by the ANN model rainfall pattern had a median under-prediction of 16.6%. This relative error was less than the median under-prediction in peak discharge when using the observed 15-minute rainfall patterns aggregated to hourly increments (40.8%), and when using rainfall patterns produced by the geometric similarity rainfall disaggregation model (21.9%).