Articles | Volume 14, issue 8
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-5607-2021
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-5607-2021
Research article
 | 
17 Aug 2021
Research article |  | 17 Aug 2021

Something fishy going on? Evaluating the Poisson hypothesis for rainfall estimation using intervalometers: results from an experiment in Tanzania

Didier de Villiers, Marc Schleiss, Marie-Claire ten Veldhuis, Rolf Hut, and Nick van de Giesen

Related authors

Adaptation of root zone storage capacity to climate change and its effects on future streamflow in Alpine catchments: towards non-stationary model parameters
Magali Ponds, Sarah Hanus, Harry Zekollari, Marie-Claire ten Veldhuis, Gerrit Schoups, Roland Kaitna, and Markus Hrachowitz
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-2024-260,https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-2024-260, 2024
Revised manuscript under review for HESS
Short summary
Number- and size-controlled rainfall regimes in the Netherlands: physical reality or statistical mirage?
Marc Schleiss
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 4789–4802, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4789-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4789-2024, 2024
Short summary
On the importance of plant phenology in the evaporative process of a semi-arid woodland: could it be why satellite-based evaporation estimates in the miombo differ?
Henry M. Zimba, Miriam Coenders-Gerrits, Kawawa E. Banda, Petra Hulsman, Nick van de Giesen, Imasiku A. Nyambe, and Hubert H. G. Savenije
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 3633–3663, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-3633-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-3633-2024, 2024
Short summary
Measuring rainfall using microwave links: the influence of temporal sampling
Luuk D. van der Valk, Miriam Coenders-Gerrits, Rolf W. Hut, Aart Overeem, Bas Walraven, and Remko Uijlenhoet
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 2811–2832, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2811-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2811-2024, 2024
Short summary
A new power-law model for μ–Λ relationships in convective and stratiform rainfall
Christos Gatidis, Marc Schleiss, and Christine Unal
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 235–245, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-235-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-235-2024, 2024
Short summary

Related subject area

Subject: Others (Wind, Precipitation, Temperature, etc.) | Technique: In Situ Measurement | Topic: Validation and Intercomparisons
Time-resolved measurements of the densities of individual frozen hydrometeors and fresh snowfall
Dhiraj K. Singh, Eric R. Pardyjak, and Timothy J. Garrett
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 4581–4598, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4581-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4581-2024, 2024
Short summary
Uncertainties in temperature statistics and fluxes determined by sonic anemometers due to wind-induced vibrations of mounting arms
Zhongming Gao, Heping Liu, Dan Li, Bai Yang, Von Walden, Lei Li, and Ivan Bogoev
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 4109–4120, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4109-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4109-2024, 2024
Short summary
Performance evaluation of MeteoTracker mobile sensor for outdoor applications
Francesco Barbano, Erika Brattich, Carlo Cintolesi, Abdul Ghafoor Nizamani, Silvana Di Sabatino, Massimo Milelli, Esther E. M. Peerlings, Sjoerd Polder, Gert-Jan Steeneveld, and Antonio Parodi
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 3255–3278, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3255-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3255-2024, 2024
Short summary
Impacts of anemometer changes, site relocations and processing methods on wind speed trends in China
Yi Liu, Lihong Zhou, Yingzuo Qin, Cesar Azorin-Molina, Cheng Shen, Rongrong Xu, and Zhenzhong Zeng
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 1123–1131, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1123-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1123-2024, 2024
Short summary
Validation of Aeolus L2B products over the tropical Atlantic using radiosondes
Maurus Borne, Peter Knippertz, Martin Weissmann, Benjamin Witschas, Cyrille Flamant, Rosimar Rios-Berrios, and Peter Veals
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 561–581, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-561-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-561-2024, 2024
Short summary

Cited articles

Abdrabo, M., Essel, A., Lennard, C., Padgham, J., and Urquhart, P.: Africa, in: Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability. Part B: Regional Aspects. Contribution of Working Group II to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Tech. rep., Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK and New York, NY, USA, 2014. a
Arfken, G. B., Weber, H. J., and Harris, F. E.: Mathematical Methods for Physicists, 7th edn., Academic Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, 2013. a
Atlas, D. and Ulbrich, C. W.: Path- and Area-Integrated Rainfall Measurement by Microwave Attenuation in the 1–3 cm Band, J. Appl. Meteorol., 16, 1322–1331, https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0450(1977)016<1322:paairm>2.0.co;2, 1977. a, b, c, d
Battan, L. J.: Radar Observation of the Atmosphere, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois, USA, 1973. a
Boko, M., Niang, I., and Nyong, A.: Africa, in: Climate change adaptation and vulnerability: contribution of working group II to the IV assessment report of the IPCC panel on climate change, Tech. rep., Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK and New York, NY, USA, 2007. a
Download
Short summary
Ground-based rainfall observations across the African continent are sparse. We present a new and inexpensive rainfall measuring instrument (the intervalometer) and use it to derive reasonably accurate rainfall rates. These are dependent on a fundamental assumption that is widely used in parameterisations of the rain drop size distribution. This assumption is tested and found to not apply for most raindrops but is still useful in deriving rainfall rates. The intervalometer shows good potential.