Estimation of Threshold Rainfall in Ungauged Areas Using Machine Learning

In recent years, Korea has seen abnormal changes in precipitation and temperature driven by climate change. These changes highlight the increased risks of climate disasters and rainfall damage. Even with weather forecasts providing quantitative rainfall estimates, it is still difficult to estimate the damage caused by rainfall. Damaged by rainfalls differently for inch watershed, but there is a limit to the analysis coherent to the characteristic factors of the inch watershed. It is time-consuming to analyze rainfall and runoff using hydrological models every time it rains. Therefore, in fact, many analyses rely on simple rainfall data, and in coastal basins, hydrological analysis and physical model analysis are often difficult. To address the issue in this study, watershed characteristic factors such as drainage area (A), mean drainage elevation (H), mean drainage slope (S), drainage density (D), runoff curve number (CN), watershed parameter (L-p), and form factor (R-s) etc. and hydrologic factors were collected and calculated as independent variables, and the threshold rainfall calculated by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) was calculated as a dependent variable and used in the machine learning technique. As for machine learning techniques, this study uses the support vector machine method (SVM), the random forest method, and eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost). As a result, XGBoost showed good results in performance evaluation with RMSE 20, MAE 14, and RMSLE 0.28, and the threshold rainfall of the ungauged watersheds was calculated using the XGBoost technique and verified through past rainfall events and damage cases. As a result of the verification, it was confirmed that there were cases of damage in the basin where the threshold rainfall was low. If the application results of this study are used, it is judged that it is possible to accurately predict flooding-induced rainfall by calculating the threshold rainfall in the ungauged watersheds where rainfall-outflow analysis is difficult, and through this result, it is possible to prepare for areas vulnerable to flooding.

Automated summary

In recent years, Korea has experienced abnormal changes in precipitation and temperature due to climate change, increasing the risks of climate disasters and rainfall damage. Traditional hydrological models are time-consuming and have limitations in analyzing the damage caused by rainfall in different watersheds. In this study, machine learning techniques were used to accurately predict the threshold rainfall in ungauged watersheds by collecting and calculating watershed characteristic and hydrological factors. The results showed that the XGBoost method performed well in predicting threshold rainfall and was validated through past rainfall events and damage cases.