Trivariate Frequency Analyses of Peak Discharge, Hydrograph Volume and Suspended Sediment Concentration Data Using Copulas

Copula functions are often used for multivariate frequency analyses, but discharge and suspended sediment concentrations have not yet been modelled together with the use of 3-dimensional copula functions. One hydrological station from Slovenia and five stations from USA with watershed areas from 920 km2 to 24,996 km2 were used for trivariate frequency analyses of peak discharges, hydrograph volumes and suspended sediment concentrations. Different parametric marginal distributions were applied and parameters were estimated with the method of L-moments. Maximum pseudo-likelihood method was used for copula parameters estimation. With the use of statistical and graphical tests we selected the most appropriate copula model. Symmetric and asymmetric versions of Archimedean copulas were applied according to the dependence characteristics of the individual stations. We selected Gumbel-Hougaard copula as the most appropriate model for all discussed stations. Primary joint return periods OR and secondary Kendall’s return periods were calculated and comparison between selected copula functions was made. We can conclude that copula functions are useful mathematical tool, which can also be used for modelling variables that are presented in this paper.