Differences in Rain Gauges
Professional and amateur meteorologists and most home gardeners use some type of rain gauge. The rain gauge has helped predict weather patterns for hundreds of years. There are several different types of rain gauges, but most people use a standard gauge. More accurate gauges are available, but they carry some added risks. Does this Spark an idea?
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History
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Humans have cultivated the land for thousands of years, so devices that measure rain have likely existed for just as long. The earliest evidence of a rain gauge, however, appeared in the mid-1500s during the reign of Korean king Sejong, according to non-profit rain gauge community Cocorah. The next leap forward in rain gauge technology occurred in 1661, when Christopher Wren invented the "bucket gauge."
Types
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The different types of rain gauges all come with their benefits and drawbacks; no perfect rain gauge exists, according to "Fundamentals of Hydrology," by Tim Davie. In general, rain gauges vary in how they collect rain and their methods of measuring rainfall. Discrepancies in rain guage measurement reach a compromise in the standard UK rain gauge.
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Features
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The standard rain gauge stands eight inches tall and contains a funnel exactly 10 times the size of the measuring tube. The bucket method calibrates buckets on a spoke to tip whenever they catch .01 inch of rain. An electronic device then records the number of revolutions. A third alternative catches water in a container and then measures it on a scale. The actual weight is not as important as the day to day differences.
Benefits
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The standard funnel rain gauge is usually placed far above ground level, which causes errors due to wind turbulence moving the gauge. To mitigate turbulence, some people use ground-level rain gauges, but these fall victim to coverage from snow or flooding. Accuracy in precipitation measurement depends on a gauge being as flush as possible with the land, and thus different gauges are better in various situations.
Considerations
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Although differences in rain gauges can give more optimal rainfall measurements, this can also call into question past rainfall data. Tom Davie states that developing a different standard rain gauge would make adjusting the errors in past data much more difficult. Thus, even though places like the United Kingdom receive little snowfall, and places like Russia experience excess snow, the same gauge is recommended in all locales.
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References
- Photo Credit Image by Flickr.com, courtesy of Jeff Hitchcock
