Imagine a scenario in which Santa Cruz receives the 2nd largest amount of precipitation that it has in its 109 years of precipitation monitoring. What is the return period of this precipitation?

Question

BlackTom AI · Accepted Answer

In order to determine the return period for a given rank within a historical record, we consider the concept of an annual maximum (or annual precipitation) series and use the typical relation RP = (N + 1) / m, where N is the number of years of data and m is the rank (with m = 1 for the largest event, m = 2 for the second largest, etc.).

First option: 0.018 years. This is an absurdly small return period for the second largest event in a 109-year record, since even the largest events typically have return periods on the order of many years, not fractions of a year. This option can be dismissed as inconsistent with the standard RP = (N+1)/m framework.

Second option: 55 years. Using the formula with N = 109 and m = 2 (the second largest), RP = (109 + 1) / 2 = 110 / 2 = 55 years. This aligns exactly with the expected return period for the second largest observation in a 109-year dataset.

Third option: 1.8 years. Similar to the first option, this is far too short for the second-largest event over a 109-year span. A return period this small would imply an extremely frequent event, which is inconsistent with the notion of the second largest in a long record.

Fourth option: 54.5 years. This is close to 55 but not exactly the standard calculation for the second largest with 109 years of data. Depending on rounding conventions, some analyses might approximate, but the conventional, textbook calculation yields exactly 55 years for RP when m = 2 and N = 109.

Summarizing, the logic hinges on applying the (N+1)/m rule to rank 2 within 109 years, which gives 55 years as the return period for the second largest precipitation event in the record. The other options deviate either by being implausibly short, or by not matching the precise calculation for this setup.

EART-30-01 💡 Week 8 Quiz 1

Imagine a scenario in which Santa Cruz receives the 2nd largest amount of precipitation that it has in its 109 years of precipitation monitoring. What is the return period of this precipitation?

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EART-30-01 💡 Week 8 Quiz 1

Imagine a scenario in which Santa Cruz receives the 2nd largest amount of precipitation that it has in its 109 years of precipitation monitoring. What is the return period of this precipitation?

View Explanation

Log in for full answers

Similar Questions

​If a 100-year floodplain was flooded in 2003, when should we expect the next 100-year flood?

If the probability of a flood in any single year is is 1%, the recurrence interval is ________.

In a consumer society, many adults channel creativity into buying things

Economic stress and unpredictable times have resulted in a booming industry for self-help products

People born without creativity never can develop it

A product has a selling price of $20, a contribution margin ratio of 40% and fixed cost of $120,000. To make a profit of $30,000. The number of units that must be sold is: Type the number without $ and a comma. Eg: 20000

Which of the following statement regarding cost is correct:

Under the assumptions used in cost-volume-profit analysis, as the activity increases:

More Practical Tools for Students Powered by AI Study Helper

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If a 100-year floodplain was flooded in 2003, when should we expect the next 100-year flood?