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Flood Risk and Vulnerability Analysis Project - Atlantic Climate ...

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Development of <strong>Project</strong>ed Intensity-Duration-Frequency Curves<br />

for Corner Brook <strong>and</strong> Goulds/Petty Harbour, Newfoundl<strong>and</strong> May 16, 2012<br />

the historical IDF curve. The calculation is done in the same manner as shown in<br />

Equations 1 <strong>and</strong> 2. The method is illustrated in Figure 4-2.<br />

Figure 4-2 - Development of the Final <strong>Project</strong>ed IDF<br />

Baseline Case<br />

Observed<br />

<strong>Climate</strong><br />

Intensity<br />

Model<br />

Baseline<br />

IDF<br />

Historical<br />

IDF<br />

<strong>Climate</strong>-impacted Case<br />

IDF<br />

Deltas<br />

Adjust<br />

(Eq. 1)<br />

Adjusted<br />

Observed<br />

<strong>Climate</strong><br />

Intensity<br />

Model<br />

<strong>Climate</strong>-<br />

Impacted<br />

IDF<br />

<strong>Project</strong>ed<br />

IDF<br />

For each precipitation duration, the intensity model is run once against the observed<br />

climate to generate a baseline intensity distribution. This distribution is used to develop<br />

estimates of baseline intensity for each return interval. The intensity model is then run<br />

again for each climate projection, this time using the adjusted observed climate value<br />

developed from that projection. This generates, for each projection, a climate-impacted<br />

probability distribution from which climate impacted precipitation intensities are<br />

generated for each return interval. The final projected precipitation intensities for each<br />

return interval are calculated using Equation 1.<br />

The intensity models are estimated on a seasonal basis, that is, by pooling all data for<br />

the months of May through October. This results in a model that captures the sensitivity<br />

of precipitation extremes to covariates (temperature, precipitation <strong>and</strong> the product of<br />

precipitation <strong>and</strong> temperature) exhibited over that season. This is done to increase the<br />

size of the data set used to estimate the statistical models, which increases their<br />

significance. The models are applied to estimate projected intensities on a monthly<br />

basis in order to capture shifts in extreme precipitation caused by projected seasonal<br />

shifts in temperature <strong>and</strong> precipitation.<br />

<strong>Project</strong>ed <strong>and</strong> observed intensities are first estimated for each month, each duration<br />

<strong>and</strong> each frequency. Then, for each GCM, duration <strong>and</strong> frequency, the maximum of the<br />

monthly intensities is taken as the annual maximum. This process is completed for<br />

each duration for both the baseline <strong>and</strong> the projected case to determine an annual<br />

AMEC Environment & Infrastructure 25

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