| Abstract |
The Gumbel probability distribution function has been the function of choice for modeling hydrological extremes since the 1950's. There has been growing evidence in recent years that floods seem to have heavier tails than the Gumbel distribution. Other studies have extended the skepticism for the Gumbel distribution by showing that it underestimates the largest rainfall amounts. In this talk, six models of quantiles and return levels for the annual maxima stream flow of the Hillsborough River, Florida, will be proposed and evaluated. It will be shown that even though the Gumbel distribution provides a good overall fit to the Hillsborough River annual maxima, the non-parametric kernel density provides closer estimates in the tails. |