Regionalization of IDF Curves by Interpolating the Intensity and Adjustment Parameters: Application to Boyacá, Colombia, South America

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

L68, quotation marks are not balance.

 

L171,complete information to make the title clear itself. For example, what country, what is the location of the stations. The same problems with other titles in Figures and Tables.

 

L176, what is U? introduce it in method section

 

L206, why so many circles there. From Figure 1 know, seven stations concentrated in the center of study area. That distribution isn’t conducive to producing spatial interpolation results that reflect the true situation.

 

L208, what is for Alpha parameters.  introduce it in method section

Author Response

Response to Reviewer 1.

 

Dear Reviewer:

Thank you for your observations and advice to improve our work.  In the following lines, we respond to your recommendation.

1. L68, quotation marks are not balance.

Thank you for your recommendation. It was corrected.

2. L171,complete information to make the title clear itself. For example, what country, what is the location of the stations. The same problems with other titles in Figures and Tables.

Thanks for your recommendation.  We corrected and added the information on the line, and other lines.  And we made the graphic 1, to clarify the localization.

 

3. L176, what is U? introduce it in method section

Thank you for your suggestion.  Was added a paragraph to describe the parameters.

“The parameters or values ​​u and alpha are components of the fitting equations to a probability distribution”

 

4. L206, why so many circles there. From Figure 1 know, seven stations concentrated in the center of study area. That distribution isn’t conducive to producing spatial interpolation results that reflect the true situation.

Thank you for the suggestion. We added a conclusion to describe that behaviour in the method.

“A concentration of data was presented towards certain meteorological stations in interpolating precipitation intensities. This result can be easily seen on maps and is called "bull's eyes." This is another additional reason to discard the interpolation of precipitation intensities as a method that allows regionalizing the IDF curves in a precise way”.

 

5. L208, what is for Alpha parameters.  introduce it in method section

Thank you for your suggestion.  Was added a paragraph to describe the parameters.

“The parameters or values ​​u and alpha are components of the fitting equations to a probability distribution”

 

Reviewer 2 Report

What are the years in Table 1?

For the application of the type I (or Gumbel) probability distribution, were data non-stationarity tests performed (which test)? After application, an adherence test was performed (Kolmogorov Smirnov test), what level of probability?

Present the adjusted parameters for the PDF used in each station;

Mistaken/repeated Table Titles;

Figure 1 does not show scale and directions;

Table 3 does not show the values of the U parameter (if it is, it needs to be identified);

Resolution/quality of the maps of the isolines is bad, it is not possible to perceive the values;

 

General comments:

The work presents an interesting and important theme for hydraulic and environmental projects. However, it has several limitations in its presentation and future applications. The use of isoline maps has been limited due to the need to present the maps for different TRs (return time) and, in addition, it allows obtaining values only by interpolation and/or distance between the location coordinates and the isolines, generating approximate values.

In this regard, authors are recommended to regionalize the parameters of the IDF equations (and not the curves), which are generally presented as follows: i = (K x RPa)/(t+b)c.

where in: i is the medium intensity (mm h-1); RP is the return period (years); t is the rain duration time (min); and K, a, b and c are the adjusted local coefficients.

In present form, no recommend publishing the article.

Author Response

Dear Reviewer,

Thank you so much for your suggestions. We greatly appreciate your time and the recommendations you give us to improve our work.

1. What are the years in Table 1?

Thank you for the recommendation.  We added the years of that period in lines 161 and 163. 

“The year period covered by the data in all stations is between 1994 and 2019. Each weather station has different start years, but all have the same end year.”

2. For the application of the type I (or Gumbel) probability distribution, were data non-stationarity tests performed (which test)? After application, an adherence test was performed (Kolmogorov Smirnov test), what level of probability?

Thank you for the recommendation. The information was added between lines 188 and 197.  

3. Present the adjusted parameters for the PDF used in each station; Mistaken/repeated Table Titles; Figure 1 does not show scale and directions; Table 3 does not show the values of the U parameter (if it is, it needs to be identified); Resolution/quality of the maps of the isolines is bad, it is not possible to perceive the values;

 Thank you for the suggestion. The graphics have been updated.

General comments:

The work presents an interesting and important theme for hydraulic and environmental projects. However, it has several limitations in its presentation and future applications. The use of isoline maps has been limited due to the need to present the maps for different TRs (return time) and, in addition, it allows obtaining values only by interpolation and/or distance between the location coordinates and the isolines, generating approximate values.

In this regard, authors are recommended to regionalize the parameters of the IDF equations (and not the curves), which are generally presented as follows: i = (K x RPa)/(t+b)c.

where in: i is the medium intensity (mm h-1); RP is the return period (years); t is the rain duration time (min); and K, a, b and c are the adjusted local coefficients.

In present form, no recommend publishing the article.

Thank you for your comments. We appreciate your opinion. In this regard, we highlight with a new conclusion the infeasibility of using the interpolation of precipitation intensities. And we add a recommendation for the parameter interpolation method to be used experimentally to look for improvements.

 

Round 2

Reviewer 2 Report

The authors presented new information in the article that favored its understanding, with the inclusion of the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. The quality of Figures 2, 3 and 4 is still low (suggestion to insert as a supplementary document to the article, allowing its applications by different researchers/users for projects).