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6-Measurement of Rainfall

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83 views26 pages

6-Measurement of Rainfall

Uploaded by

civilengineerassadullah
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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MEASUREMENT OF RAINFALL

Rainfall is measured using:


Rain Gauges
Non-recording (Symon’s rain gauge)
Recording/Automatic
Weighing Bucket Rain-gauge
Tipping Bucket Rain-gauge
Float type Rain-gauge
Pressure Transducer Rain-gauge
Automatic Radio Reporting Rain gauge
Radars
Satellites
Types of Rain-Gauges
Following are the main types of rain-gauges used for
measurement of rainfall.

Non-automatic / Non-recording Rain-gauge


 Symon’s Rain-gauge
Automatic / Recording Rain-gauge
 Weighing Bucket Rain-gauge
 Tipping Bucket Rain-gauge
 Float type Rain-gauge
 Pressure Transducer Rain-guage
 Automatic Radio Reporting Rain gauge
Non-automatic (Non-recording) Rain-gauge

 These are called non-recording rain gauges because they do


not record the rain but only collect the rain.

 The collected rain is then measured by means of graduated


cylinders so as to directly represent the rainfall volume in cm of
water depth, i.e.
Volume of water collected in cm3
Depth of rain water in cm =
Area of aperatureof the guage in cm2

Note: The amount of precipitation/rainfall is expressed as the


depth in cm or inches.
Symon’s Rain-gauge
Most common type of non-automatic rain-
gauge.

Consists of cylindrical vessel 127 mm (5”)


dia with a base enlarged to 210 mm (8”)
dia.

The top section is a funnel provided with


circular brass rim exactly 127 mm (5”)
internal dia.

The funnel shank is inserted in the neck of


receiving bottle which is 75 to 100 mm (3 to
4”) dia.

Capacity of bottle is 75 to 100 mm of


rainfall.

 The rain-gauge is placed in concrete block


60cm×60cm×60cm (2’×2’×2’).

The rim should be 305 mm (12”) above the


ground surface.

Water contained in the bottle is measured


by suitably graduated measuring glass, with
an accuracy up to 0.1 mm.

During a heavy rainfall, the rain should be


measured 3 or 4 times in a day.
Automatic (Recording) Rain-gauge
 Gauges which can give permanent and automatic
rainfall record without any bottle reading.

 Man has not to go to the gauge to measure the


amount of rain fallen.

 There is mechanical arrangement by which the total


amount of rain fallen, since the record was started,
gets recorded automatically.

 The gauge thus produces a record of cumulative rain


vs. time in the form of graph known as Mass Curve of
rain fallen.
Measurement of rainfall by an Automatic
(Recording) Rain-gauge
In general, automatic rain-gauge consists of
rotating drum with a graph paper fixed around it.

There is pen in contact with graph paper, which


moves up with the collected rain, and thus
recording cumulative rain, with the passage of time.

Mass curve of Rainfall


These are of five types

1. Weighing Bucket Rain-gauge


2. Tipping Bucket Rain-gauge
3. Float Type Rain-gauge
4. Pressure Transducer or Diaphragm gauge
5. Automatic Radio Reporting Rain gauge
1.Weighing Bucket Rain-gauge

 Consists of a receiver bucket supported by a


spring or lever balance or any other weighing
mechanism.

 The movement of bucket due to its increasing


weight is transmitted to a pen which traces the
record on a clock driven chart.
2.Tipping Bucket Rain-gauge

Consists of 30 cm dia sharp edge


receiver.
At the end of receiver funnel is
provided.
Under the funnel a pair of buckets
are pivoted (the central point which
balances) in such away that when
one bucket receives 0.25 mm (0.01”)
of rainfall it tips (to fall or turn over),
discharging its contents into reservoir
bringing other bucket under funnel.
Tipping of bucket completes an electric circuit causing the movement of pen
to mark on clock driven revolving drum which carries a record sheet.
3.Float Type Rain-gauge

 Working is similar to weighing gauge bucket.


 Funnel receives the rain water which is
collected in rectangular container.
 Float is provided at the bottom of container.
 Float is raised as the water level rises in the
container.
 Movement of float is being recorded by a pen
moving on recording drum actuated by clock
work.
 When the water level in the container rises so
that float touches the top, the siphon comes
into operation, and release the water; thus all
the water in the box is drained out.
4. Pressure Transducer Rain-guage

It consists of a very sensitive


membrane called diaphragm.

Movement of diaphragm initiates the


signal that sent to the data logger.

Data logger provides continuous


rainfall record of a storm event.
5. Automatic Radio Reporting Rain gauge

This type of rain gauge is used in mountainous areas,


which are not easily accessible to collect the rainfall data
manually.
As in the tipping bucket gauge, when the buckets fill and
tip, they give electric pulses equal in number to the mm of
rainfall collected which are coded into messages and
impressed on a transmitter during broadcast.
At the receiving station, these coded signals are picked up
by UHF receiver.
Advantages of Recording Gauge over the Non-
recording Gauge.

 In recording gauge rainfall is recorded automatically


& therefore, there is no necessity of any attendant.

 Recording rain-gauge gives the intensity of rainfall @


any time while the non-recording gauge gives the
total rainfall in any particular interval of time.

 As no attendant is required such rain-gauge can be


installed in far–off places also.

 Possibility of human error is obviated.


Disadvantages of Recording Gauge over the Non-
recording Gauge.

 It is costly in comparison with non-recording gauge.

 Fault may be developed in electrical or mechanical


mechanism or recording the rainfall.
Radar RAIN-GAUGE DENSITY

The application of radars in the study of storm mechanics,


i.e. the areal extent, orientation and movement of rain
storms, is of great use.
The radar signals reflected by the rain are helpful in
determining the magnitude of storm precipitation and its
areal distribution.
This method is usually used to supplement data obtained
from a network of rain gauges.
Location of Rain-gauges

Rain-gauges must be so located as to avoid exposure


to wind effect or interception by trees or buildings
nearby.
The best location may be an open plane ground like an
airport.
The rainfall records are maintained by various
government departments.
Rain-gauge Density
The following figures give a guideline as to the number of rain-
gauges to be erected in a given area or what is termed as
‘rain-gauge density’.
Area Rain-gauge density
Plains 1 in 520 km2
Elevated regions 1 in 260-390 km2
Hilly and very heavy 1 in 130 Km2 preferably with 10%
rainfall areas of the rain-gauge stations equipped
with the self recording type
In India, on an average, there is 1 rain-gauge station for every
500 km2, while in more developed countries, it is 1 station for
100 km2.
The length of record (i.e., the number of years) needed to
obtain a stable frequency distribution of rainfall may be
recommended as follows:
Catchment layout No. of years
Islands 30
Shore 40
Plain areas 40
Mountainous regions 50
The mean of yearly rainfall observed for a period of 35
consecutive years is called the average annual rainfall as used
in India.
The average annual rainfall of a place depends upon:
(i) Distance
(ii) Direction of the prevailing winds
(iii) The mean annual temperature

(iv) Altitude of the place

(v) Topography
Estimation of Missing Data
For frequency analysis of rainfall data, a sufficiently long record
is required. It may happen that a particular rain gauge is not
operative for part of a month or so (since it is broken or for
some other reason), when it becomes necessary to supplement
the missing record by one of the following methods:
(i) Station-year method:
In this method, the records of two or more stations are
combined into one long record provided station records are
independent and the areas in which the stations are located
are climatologically the same. The missing record at a station
in a particular year may be found by the ratio of averages or by
graphical comparison.

(ii) By simple proportion (normal ratio method)
This method is illustrated by the following example.
Example
Rain gauge station D was inoperative for part of a month during
which a storm occurred. The storm rainfall recorded in the three
surrounding stations A, B and C were 8.5, 6.7 and 9.0 cm,
respectively. If the a.a.r for the stations are 75, 84, 70 and 90
cm, respectively, estimate the storm rainfall at station D.
Solution By equating the ratios of storm rainfall to the a.a.r. at
each station, the storm rainfall at station D (PD) is estimated as

(iii) Double-mass analysis
The trend of the rainfall records at a station may slightly change
after some years due to a change in the environment (or
exposure) of a station either due to coming of a new building,
fence, planting of trees or cutting of forest nearby, which affect
the catch of the gauge due to change in the wind pattern or
exposure.
The consistency of records at the station in question (say, X) is
tested by a double mass curve by plotting the cumulative annual
(or seasonal) rainfall at station X against the concurrent
cumulative values of mean annual (or seasonal) rainfall for a
group of surrounding stations, for the number of years of record.
From the plot, the year in which a change in regime (or
environment) has occurred is indicated by the change in slope of
the straight line plot. The rainfall records of the station X are
adjusted by multiplying the recorded values of rainfall by the
ratio of slopes of the straight lines before and after change in
environment.

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