Comparison of annual maximum rainfall events of modern rain gauge data (1961–2010) and chukwooki data (1777–1910) in Seoul, Korea

In this study, the annual maximum rainfall event series were constructed and compared for both the modern flip-bucket type rainfall data, collected since 1961 (the modern data), and the old Chukwooki rainfall data, collected from 1777 to 1910 (the Chukwooki data). First, independent rainfall events were derived, by applying the same rainfall threshold of 2 mm and data collection time interval of 2 hours, to both the Chukwooki and the modern data. Annual maximum rainfall event series were then constructed, by applying Freund’s bivariate exponential distribution annually. Finally, bivariate frequency analysis was done for the annual maximum rainfall event series constructed, by applying the bivariate logistic model to evaluate and quantify their characteristics. The results are in summary: (1) characteristics of the Chukwooki rainfall events and modern rainfall events are very similar to each other; (2) the annual maximum rainfall events of modern data are slightly larger than those of the Chukwooki data. The total rainfall depth per rainfall event for any given return period is thus estimated to be a little higher for the modern data than that of the Chukwooki data. However, based on the findings in this study, it could not be concluded that the rainfall characteristics have significantly changed during the last 200 years.