Daily Precipitation Simulation Model for Mountainous Areas

ABSTRACT In mountainous areas, most precipitation measurements are taken at valley sites that do not always represent conditions at higher elevations. However, daily precipitation estimates are necessary at the higher elevations for hydrologic, natural resource and other engineering projects. This study investigated the use of the Markov chain-mixed exponential (MCME) model as a means of obtaining synthetic daily precipitation amounts at a site, based on knowledge of the mean annual precipitation at the site. Data for this study were from 16 precipitation gages located on a mountainous watershed in southwest Idaho. There was a good relationship between annual precipitation and some of the parameters in the MCME model, and other parameters could be assumed constant. The MCME model preserved the important statistics within a year, but caution should be taken when using it to study annual phenomena.