GRD Journals | Global Research and Development Journal for Engineering | Emerging Research and Innovations in Civil Engineering

(ERICE - 2019) | February 2019

e-ISSN: 2455-5703

Determining Missing Rainfall Data of Rain Gauge

Stations in South Gujarat Agroclimatic Zone by
Closest Station Method: Special Reference to
Navsari District
1Monalika Malaviya 2Dr. Vilin Parekh
2
Principal
1
Department of Civil Engineering
1,2
Parul Institute of Engineering and Technology, Vadodara, Gujarat, India

Abstract

Missing Rainfall data may vary in length from one or two days to several years. Especially in data-sparse areas, estimation of the
missing data is necessary in order to utilize partial records. For filling missing rainfall data, various methods are used. To generate
one output, some methods need only one input variable like Closest Station Method (CSM) & Artificial Neural Network Method
(ANN) and some methods must need more than one input variables like Arithmetic Average Method (AAM), Inverse Distance
Method (IDM) & Normal Ratio Method (NRM). Gujarat is divided into eight agroclimatic zones. South Gujarat Agroclimatic zone
partly consisting of Bharuch, Navsari and Surat districts is selected for the present study. There are 22 talukas under the study area
and 75 rain gauge stations cover selected 3 districts. Daily rainfall data from 1981 to 2015 of respective rain gauge stations are
collected from State Water Data Center, Gandhinagar. In order to compute the missing daily rainfall data, the latitudes and
longitudes of the different rain gauge stations are converted to x and y co–ordinates using the Franson Coord Trans V 2.3. Cluster
analysis is used to group the rain gauge stations into clusters for filling in missing rainfall data. The paper discusses determining
missing rainfall data of rain gauge stations of Navsari district by Closest Station Method.
Keyword- Rain Gauge Stations, Rainfall Data, Missing Data, Cluster Analysis, Closest Station Method
__________________________________________________________________________________________________

I. INTRODUCTION
At least no one rain gauge station is available with full of rainfall data so it is necessary to find missing rainfall data. For that,
different methods are available. Some methods need one input variable means rain gauge station to generate output means rainfall
data and some methods must need more than one input variables to generate output one. Different researchers used different
methods for determining missing rainfall data.
Demirhan and Renwick (2018) focused on the estimation of missing solar irradiance values and for that, they used
durations like minutely, hourly, daily, and weekly. An extensive number of imputation methods were used in solar irradiance
series. They compared the accuracy of 36 imputation methods.
Records of rainfall were examined by Miro et al. (2017). Multiple Imputation Methods like 6 Linear, 2 Non-linear and 2
Hybrid Methods were used for finding missing rainfall data. Daily rainfall data of 60 years were considered.
Sattari et al. (2016) used Arithmetic Averaging Method (AA), Non-linear Regression Method (NR), Linear Regression Method
(LR) and Multiple Linear Regression Method (MLR) methods for finding missing rainfall data. In this study, monthly rainfall data
of 29 years from 6 rain gauge stations considered.
Regression method was used by Khalifeloo et al. (2015) for filling missing hydrological records.
Dumedah et al. (2014) introduced artificial neural networks and statistical methods for infilling missing soil moisture
records of 13 monitoring stations.
Ghuge and Regulwar (2013) used Artificial Neural Network (ANN) Method for monthly rainfall data of 10 years from 6
rain gauge stations.
Nkuna and Odiyo (2011) examined records of 1 year rainfall data from 5 rain gauge stations and determined the missing
rainfall data. For finding missing rainfall data, Artificial Neural Network (ANN) method was used.
Kim and Pachepsky (2010) were used Artificial Neural Network (ANN) method for infilling missing precipitation data for 7 years
from 39 weather stations.
Patel et al. (2008) concluded the effectiveness of the artificial neural network method for Mehsana district, Gujarat, India,
compared to the arithmetic average method, inverse square distance (ISD) (National Weather Service method), normal ratio
method, linear and multiple regression methods.

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Determining Missing Rainfall Data of Rain Gauge Stations in South Gujarat Agroclimatic Zone by Closest Station Method: Special Reference to Navsari District
(GRDJE / CONFERENCE / ERICE - 2019 / 063)

The aim of the study is to ascertain missing rainfall data using Closest Station Method. The objectives of the study are:
to fill the missing climate data, to use Closest Station Method and to utilize Cluster Analysis.

II. STUDY AREA

Gujarat is divided into eight agroclimatic zones (Map 1). South Gujarat Agroclimatic zone partly or fully including the districts of
Bharuch, Navsari and Surat is selected for the present study (Map 2).
There are 22 talukas and 75 rain gauge stations in and around the study area.

Map 1: Gujarat Agro Climate Zones Map

Navsari is an administrative district in the state of Gujarat in India. It is located at 20.9467 0 N and 72.95200 E and covers an area
of 2,211 km2.

Map 2: South Gujarat Agro Climatic Zone

The paper discusses determining missing rainfall data of 25 rain gauge stations, which are located in Navsari district.

III. DATA COLLECTION

There are great differences between temperatures of days and nights. Summers starts from March and ends in June, Monsoons
from June to October and winters from November to February.
Daily rainfall data from 1981 to 2015 of respective rain gauge stations of Navsari district are collected from State Water Data
Center, Gandhinagar (Table 1).

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Determining Missing Rainfall Data of Rain Gauge Stations in South Gujarat Agroclimatic Zone by Closest Station Method: Special Reference to Navsari District
(GRDJE / CONFERENCE / ERICE - 2019 / 063)

Tahsil/
SR.No. Station Name District Latitude Longitude From To Years
Taluk
1 Aat Navsari 20 53’45” 72 52’35”
Jalalpor 0 0
1981 1998 18
2 Abrama Navsari Navsari20051’15” 72054’20” 1981 2001 21
3 Amalsad Navsari Gandevi20049’00” 72057’00” 1981 2007 27
Ashtagam
4 Navsari Navsari 20054’34” 73001’42” 1981 2015 35
(Supa)
5 Auranga @ Bhervi Navsari Chikhali 20035’42” 73004’55”
6 Bhinar Navsari Vansda 20048’39” 73021’25” 1981 2015 35
7 Chikhali Navsari Chikhali 20046’00” 73004’08” 1981 2010 30
8 Choravni Navsari Vansda 20037’42” 73023’58” 1981 2015 35
9 Dholikuva Navsari Chikhali 20050’00” 73012’37” 1981 2015 35
Gandeva
10 Navsari Gandevi 20051’25” 73003’30” 1981 2007 27
[Kharel]
11 Gandevi Navsari Navsari 20048’49” 73000’16” 1981 2015 35
12 Ghodmal Navsari Vansda 20041’22” 73018’45” 1981 2015 35
13 Godthal-Agasi Navsari Chikhali 20040’08” 73013’59” 1981 1998 18
14 Kaveri @ Harangam Navsari Chikhali 20047’10” 73008’55”
15 Kharera @ Kavdej Navsari Vansda 20042’30” 73018’33” 1999 2015 17
16 Mankunia Navsari Vansda 20041’48” 73023’55” 1981 2015 35
17 Maroli (Bazar) Navsari Jalalpor 21000’45” 72053’22” 1981 2010 30
18 Kaveri @ Mindhabari Navsari Vansda 20043’40” 73019’50”
19 Purna @ Navsari Navsari Navsari 20058’02” 72057’53” 1981 2015 35
20 Onjal Navsari Jalalpor 20050’04” 72050’34” 1995 2015 21
21 Sara Navsari Vansda 20048’43” 73024’42” 1983 1998 16
22 Satem Navsari Navsari 20055’20” 73005’10” 1982 2001 20
23 Ugat Navsari Navsari 20057’16” 73002’37” 1981 2001 21
24 Vansda Navsari Vansda 20044’54” 73023’38” 1981 2010 30
25 Vesma Navsari Jalalpor 21002’35” 72058’45” 1981 2010 30
Table 1: Details of Raingauge Stations of Navsari district
The five talukas (Jalalpore, Navsari, Gandevi, Chikhali and Bansda) of Navsari district are highlighted (Map 3).

Map 3: Navsari district with its highlighted five talukas

IV. METHODOLOGY
In order to compute the missing daily rainfall data the latitudes and longitudes of the different rain gauge stations were converted
to x and y co–ordinates using the Franson Coord Trans V 2.3. The rain gauge stations in and around study area were utilized for
forming the groups of stations to compute the missing data using cluster analysis.

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Determining Missing Rainfall Data of Rain Gauge Stations in South Gujarat Agroclimatic Zone by Closest Station Method: Special Reference to Navsari District
(GRDJE / CONFERENCE / ERICE - 2019 / 063)

Cluster analysis is one of the statistical techniques often used in meteorology and climatology to identify homogeneous
climate groups and for climate classification. The aim of the cluster analysis is to group the rain gauge stations into clusters for
filling in missing data. It is performed by clustering algorithms. All the clustering algorithms follow the basic four steps routine to
identify homogeneous groups.
1) Calculation of the specified distance between all the rain gauge stations.
2) Formation of a new cluster merging from the two closest entries, based on a defined criterion.
3) Recalculation of the distance between all the entries, and
4) Repetition of steps
5) until all entries merge into one cluster
Data clustering algorithms can be of different types such as joining (tree clustering), two way joining (block clustering)
and k–means clustering.
For the present study the joining algorithm was of concern as forming the groups of rain gauge stations were required
based on the distances.
Hierarchical tree is a way to investigate grouping in data, simultaneously over a variety of scales, by creating a cluster
tree called a dendrogram. The tree is not a single set of clusters, but rather a multi–level hierarchy, where clusters at one level are
joined as clusters at the next higher level.
Hierarchical tree can be agglomerative (“bottom–up”) or divisive (“top–down”). Agglomerative algorithms begin with
each element as a separate cluster and merge them into successively larger clusters. Divisive algorithms begin with the whole set
and proceed to divide it into successively smaller clusters.
The joining or tree clustering method uses the dissimilarities/similarities or distances between objects when forming the
clusters. Similarities are a set of rules that serve as criteria for grouping or separating items.
The distances (similarities) can be based on a single dimension or multiple dimensions, with each dimension representing
a rule or condition for grouping objects. The most straightforward way of computing distances between objects in a multi–
dimensional space is to compute Euclidean distances.

Fig. 1: Part of Various Rain gauge Stations in South Gujarat Agroclimatic Zone

Though there are number of rain gauge stations in the vicinity of the rain gauge station where missing data are to be
calculated, it happens rarely that there is more than one station where complete data are available, for filling the missing data.
An attempt is made to fill the missing data using only one rain gauge station and to identify the same, amongst the different
methods available, the closest station will be used, as other methods require more than one rain gauge station.

V. RESULTS AND ANALYSIS

The latitudes and longitudes of the different rain gauge stations are converted to x and y co–ordinates using the Franson Coord
Trans V 2.3 and the distances between rain gauge stations in and around Bharuch, Navsari and Surat District were calculated.
For example, Aat rain gauge station of Navsari district is surrounding by five rain gauge stations (Figure 2).

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Determining Missing Rainfall Data of Rain Gauge Stations in South Gujarat Agroclimatic Zone by Closest Station Method: Special Reference to Navsari District
(GRDJE / CONFERENCE / ERICE - 2019 / 063)

Fig. 2: Distances between Aat rain gauge station and its surrounding rain gauge stations (All the distances are in kms)

Thus, distances between each and every 25 rain gauge stations and their surrounding rain gauge stations are found out by Franson
Coord Trans V 2.3.
Then, considering proximity of each station with reference to a particular station the dates on which the rainfall data is missing of
particular rain gauge station were established. Missing rainfall dates of 25 rain gauge stations are found out.
Missing rainfall values of 25 rain gauge stations of Navsari district are found out by Closest Station Method.

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