Introducing the mixed distribution in fitting rainfall data

Abstract

Several types of mixed distribution are proposed and tested in order to determine the best model in describing daily rainfall amount in Peninsular Malaysia for the time period of 33 years. A mixed distribution is a mixture of discrete and continuous daily rainfall which included the dry days. The mixed distributions tested in this study were exponential distribution, gamma distribution, weibull distribution and lognormal distribution. The model will be selected based on the Akaike Information Criterion (AIC). In general, the mixed lognormal distribution has been selected as the best model for most of the rain gauge stations in Peninsular Malaysia. However, these results are greatly influenced by the topographical, geographical and climatic changes of the rain gauge stations.