DIRECT PROBABILISTIC DESCRIPTION OF ARRIVAL TIMES OF RUNOFF EVENTS WITHIN THE YEAR

Present descriptions of arrival times of runoff events are based upon modeling of inter-arrival intervals. Maintaining the traditional assum ption that arrival times are independent random variables, these times can be directly described through a continuous distribution fitted to recorded data. A case study for the arid Negev region in Israel indic ates that the Pearson type III distribution satisfactorily achieves th is goal. The direct description can apply nonuniform functions, respon d to multi-modal distributions, and be extended to regional modeling.