A dataset of gridded precipitation intensity-duration-frequency curves in Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

Zhihui Ren; Yan-Fang Sang; Peng Cui; Fei Chen; Deliang Chen

doi:10.1038/s41597-024-04362-1

A dataset of gridded precipitation intensity-duration-frequency curves in Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

Sci Data. 2025 Jan 2;12(1):3. doi: 10.1038/s41597-024-04362-1.

Authors

Zhihui Ren^{1

2}, Yan-Fang Sang^{3

4

5

6}, Peng Cui^{2

7}, Fei Chen⁸, Deliang Chen^{9

10}

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Water Cycle & Related Land Surface Processes, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China.
² University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China.
³ Key Laboratory of Water Cycle & Related Land Surface Processes, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China. [email protected].
⁴ University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China. [email protected].
⁵ Yarlung Zangbo Grand Canyon Water Cycle Monitoring and Research Station, Tibet Autonomous Region, Linzhi, 860000, China. [email protected].
⁶ Key Laboratory of Compound and Chained Natural Hazards, Ministry of Emergency Management of China, Beijing, 100085, China. [email protected].
⁷ Key Laboratory of Land Surface Pattern and Simulation, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China.
⁸ POWERCHINA Chengdu Engineering Corporation Limited, Chengdu, 610072, China.
⁹ Department of Earth System Science, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China.
¹⁰ Department of Earth Sciences, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, 40530, Sweden.

Abstract

The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP), a high mountain area prone to destructive rainstorm hazards and inducing natural disasters, underscores the importance of developing precipitation intensity-duration-frequency (IDF) curves for estimating extreme precipitation characteristics. Here we introduce the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau Precipitation Intensity-Duration-Frequency Curves (QTPPIDFC) dataset, the first gridded dataset tailored for estimating extreme precipitation characteristics in QTP. The generalized extreme value distribution is chosen to fit the annual maximum precipitation samples at 203 weather stations, based on which the at-site IDF curves are estimated; then, principal component analysis is done to identify the southeast-northwest spatial pattern of at-site IDF curves, and its first principal component gives a 96% explained variance; finally, spatial interpolation is done to estimate gridded IDF curves by using the random forest model with geographical and climatic variables as predictors. The dataset provides precipitation information within 1, 2, 3, 6, 12, 24 hours and 5, 10, 20, 50,100 return years, with a 1/30° spatial resolution. The QTPPIDFC dataset can solidly serve for hydrometeorological-related risk management and hydraulic/hydrologic engineering design in QTP.