Flow‐Duration Curves. I: New Interpretation and Confidence Intervals

Abstract

A flow‐duration curve (FDC) is simply the complement of the cumulative distribution function of daily, weekly, monthly (or some other time interval of) streamflow. Applications of FDCs include, but are not limited to, hydropower planning, water‐quality management, river and reservoir sedimentation studies, habitat suitability, and low‐flow augmentation. Although FDCs have a long and rich history in the field of hydrology, they are sometimes criticized because, traditionally, their interpretation depends on the particular period of record on which they are based. If one considers