Use of disdrometer data to evaluate the relationship of rainfall kinetic energy and intensity (KE-I)

Determination of rainfall kinetic energy (KE) is required to calculate erosivity, the ability of rainfall to detach soil particles and initiate erosion. Disdrometers can measure rainfall KE by measuring raindrop size and velocity. In the absence of such devices, KE is usually estimated with empirical equations that derive KE from measured rainfall intensity (I). We evaluated the performance of 14 different KE–I equations to estimate the 1min KE and event total KE, and compared these results with 821 observed rainfall events recorded by an optical disdrometer in the inner Ebro Basin, NE Spain. We also evaluated two sources of bias when using such relationships: bias from use of theoretical raindrop terminal velocities instead of measured values; and bias from time aggregation (recording rainfall intensity every 5, 10, 15, 30, and 60min). Empirical relationships performed well when complete events were considered (R2>0.90), but performed poorly for within-event variation (1min resolution). Also, several of the KE-I equations had large systematic biases. When raindrop size is known, estimation of terminal velocities by empirical laws led to overestimates of raindrop velocity and KE. Time aggregation led to large under-estimates of KE, although linear scaling successfully corrected for this bias. [Display omitted] •We measured rainfall kinetic energy (KE) at 1min intervals over 4years in NE Spain.•Theoretical KE-intensity (I) relationships over-estimated KE.•At a resolution of 1min, KE-I relationships overestimated KE.•There was better agreement of observed and theoretical values at the event scale.•Intensity time-aggregation (5 to 60min) led to large underestimates of KE.