Author(s)

Erick Carlier^*, Jamal El Khattabi

Polytech’lille, Laboratoire de Génie Civil et Géo-Environnement (LGCgE), Université Lille 1, Sciences et Technologie, Villeneuve d’Ascq, France.

Annual maximum rainfall intensity for several duration and return periods has been analyzed according to the Gumbel distribution. The Intensity-Duration-Frequency (IDF) curves before and after 1980 have been computed and compared. For the city of Toronto, it is shown that the rainfall intensities after 1980 are lower than those from before this date. This is especially clear for those of short duration. Comparing our results with those of other authors, it appears that, for the moment, no general law on the impact of global warming on the curves intensity duration frequency cannot be made. It appears that the impact of global warming on rainfall varies with geographic location and that it is not possible to draw some general conclusions across the planet.

Climate Change, Duration, Frequency, Intensity, Rainfall

Carlier, E. and Khattabi, J. (2016) Impact of Global Warming on Intensity-Duration-Frequency (IDF) Relationship of Precipitation: A Case Study of Toronto, Canada. Open Journal of Modern Hydrology, 6, 1-7. doi: 10.4236/ojmh.2016.61001.