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| Titel |
Quantification of rain gauge measurement undercatch and wind speed correction |
| VerfasserIn |
Michael Pollock, Paul Quinn, Mark Dutton, Mark Wilkinson |
| Konferenz |
EGU General Assembly 2014
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| Medientyp |
Artikel
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| Sprache |
Englisch
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| Digitales Dokument |
PDF |
| Erschienen |
In: GRA - Volume 16 (2014) |
| Datensatznummer |
250096265
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| Publikation (Nr.) |
 EGU/EGU2014-11762.pdf |
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| Zusammenfassung |
| Hydrological processes are adversely affected by systematic rain gauge inaccuracy due to
wind induced undercatching. The implications of this are discussed and addressed. Despite
evidence of the undercatch problem being cited in the past and the difficulty in solving such a
complex problem; it has become an inconvenient truth to hydrologists that major inaccuracies
in rainfall measurement exist. A two year long experiment using new equipment and
improved data logging and telemetery techniques enriches this formative work to redress the
wilful neglect with which accurate rainfall measurement has been treated in recent
decades. Results from this work suggest that the annual systematic undercatch can be
in the order of 20 percent in the UK. During specific periods (measured at high
temporal resolution), this can rise to as high as 50 percent for a single wind impacted
event.
As one organisation, responsible for the environment in the UK, moves towards using
fewer instruments (15 percent fewer in the next year), it is scarcely possible to overstate the
importance in solving this problem. It had been hoped that new equipment, such as
acoustic distrometer and weighing gauge technologies, would be able to reduce the
magnitude of the bias. However, through data gathered in the 2 year experiment
and through secondary sources from the 1970s and 1980s, it is demonstrated that
this is not the case and that the same problems with undercatching remain now
as they did then. We further postulate that wider, denser networks of inexpensive
telemetered equipment are now possible but they must still address the undercatch
issue.
There is little merit in pointing out an age old problem if no solution is put forward to fix
it. The aforementioned experiment has furnished new ideas and further work has been
commissioned to address this problem. This will be achieved via the medium of a Knowledge
Transfer Partnership between Newcastle University and an innovative equipment
manufacturer (EML). |
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