optical rain gauge

From Glossary of Meteorology
The printable version is no longer supported and may have rendering errors. Please update your browser bookmarks and please use the default browser print function instead.
A gauge that measures the scintillation in an optical beam produced by raindrops falling between a light source and an optical receiver.

By measuring the energy in selected frequency bands of the scintillation spectrum and comparing their ratios, the occurrence of precipitation, type of precipitation, and intensity of precipitation can be estimated.
Nystuen, J. A., et al. 1996. A comparison of automatic rain gauges. J. Atmos. Oceanic Technol.. 13. 62–73.


Copyright 2024 American Meteorological Society (AMS). For permission to reuse any portion of this work, please contact [email protected]. Any use of material in this work that is determined to be “fair use” under Section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Act (17 U.S. Code § 107) or that satisfies the conditions specified in Section 108 of the U.S.Copyright Act (17 USC § 108) does not require AMS’s permission. Republication, systematic reproduction, posting in electronic form, such as on a website or in a searchable database, or other uses of this material, except as exempted by the above statement, require written permission or a license from AMS. Additional details are provided in the AMS Copyright Policy statement.