GROUND BASED RAINDROP SPECTROMETER

Abstract

A novel ground-based raindrop spectrometer is described and its operating principles explained. The instrument is designed to count and size automatically all raindrops falling freely through an optically defined sampling area of 32 sq. cm. All drops larger than 0.2 mm in diameter are counted and assigned to the appropriate one of 13 size intervals, the last interval being drops larger than 4.6 mm. The running total count of drops in each size interval is accumulated in an electronic memory for a time interval which can be preset to any duration from 5 sec to 3 min. Then the stored counts are read out automatically and recorded on a paper tape punch in seconds, after which the memory clears and data accumulation begins again. The instrument can store up to 10,000 counts in each of the 13 size intervals during each data collection period. From the record, the following information can be derived: raindrop size spectra as a function of time, average volume drop radius, total rainfall or rainfall rate.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Feb 01, 1962
Accession Number
AD0403878

Entities

People

  • A. M. Nathan
  • C. J. Makris
  • Leon Bennett

Organizations

  • New York University

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Advanced Electronics
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Sensors
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Accuracy
  • Cathode Followers
  • Detectors
  • Drops
  • Engineering
  • Ground Based
  • Light Sources
  • Measurement
  • Power Supplies
  • Pulse Amplifiers
  • Raindrops
  • Rainfall
  • Sampling
  • Scattering
  • Tape Recorders
  • Time Intervals
  • Waveforms

Readers

  • Aerosol Science/Aerosol Physics
  • Computer Science/Computer Engineering/Data Science/Digital Signal Processing.
  • Mathematics or Statistics

Technology Areas

  • Microelectronics