Rainfall Characteristics of the Liudaogou Catchment on the Northern Loess Plateau of China

The objectives of this study were to understand the rainfall characteristics of thewind-water erosion crisscross region on the northern Loess Plateau, China, to provide basisfor the studies on mitigation of soil erosion, estimation on surface water resources andlocal hydrological circle, etc. The Liudaogou Catchment with representative climatic andhydrologic conditions of wind-water erosion crisscross region at the northern LoessPlateau was chosen as the study area. Analysis of the rain intensity, duration and amountwas performed for the period from May to October for five years (2006-2010). Themaximum and average rain intensity of time intervals of 3 min, 5 min, 10 min, 30 min and1 h were quantized. Rain intensity distribution of different time intervals (3 min, 5 min, 10min, 30 min, 1h and 6 h) has been clarified to a certain degree. Rainfall events whoserainfall duration equal or less than 30 min accounted for approximately 50% of the totalnumber of rainfall events. Rainfall event whose rainfall amount ≤ 1 mm accountedapproximately 50% of annual mean rainfall events whereas their total rainfall onlyaccounted for less than 7% of mean annual precipitation during 2006-2010. This studyveritably described the main rainfall characteristics of wind-water erosion crisscross regionon the northern Loess Plateau to a certain extent.