Rain Drop Measurement Techniques: A Review
Stormwater Research Group, School of Science and Engineering, University of the Sunshine Coast, Sippy Downs, Queensland 4556, Australia
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Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
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These authors contributed equally to this work.
Academic Editor: Brigitte Helmreich
Water 2016, 8(1), 29; https://doi.org/10.3390/w8010029
Received: 17 November 2015
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Revised: 15 December 2015
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Accepted: 4 January 2016
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Published: 21 January 2016
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Drainage and Urban Stormwater Management)
For over a century there have been many studies that describe the use of rain drop measurement techniques. Initial manual measurement methods evolved due to improved technology to include photographic and, more recently, automated disdrometer and laser measurement techniques. Despite these numerous studies, there have been few comparative reviews of the range of methodologies, and their relative performance. This review explores the raindrop measurement techniques available, and summarizes and classifies the techniques according to the method or principle involved. The requirements of a robust raindrop measurement technique are suggested, and these are reviewed against existing rain drop measurement techniques to provide a comparative guide to the use of the range of techniques available for any research study. This review revealed that while advances in technology have allowed many of the deficiencies of early techniques to be eliminated, challenges remain in relation to the precision of the measurement of the size, shape, and velocity of rain drops.
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Keywords:
raindrop measurement techniques; impact and optical disdrometers; laser precipitation monitor; pluviometer
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MDPI and ACS Style
Kathiravelu, G.; Lucke, T.; Nichols, P. Rain Drop Measurement Techniques: A Review. Water 2016, 8, 29. https://doi.org/10.3390/w8010029
AMA Style
Kathiravelu G, Lucke T, Nichols P. Rain Drop Measurement Techniques: A Review. Water. 2016; 8(1):29. https://doi.org/10.3390/w8010029
Chicago/Turabian StyleKathiravelu, Gopinath, Terry Lucke, and Peter Nichols. 2016. "Rain Drop Measurement Techniques: A Review" Water 8, no. 1: 29. https://doi.org/10.3390/w8010029
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