Design of an improvised tipping bucket rain gauge for measurement of rain and snow precipitation

Abstract

Snow water equivalent is the amount of water contained within a snowpack. It is important to have accurate and timely winter precipitation information for agriculture and especially for flood and stream flow forecasting. Moreover, if the density of the snow is known, then the snow water equivalent data can be used to determine snow depth which is an important parameter for avalanche forecasting (McClung and Schaerer, 1993). In this paper, the design of a new tipping bucket rain gauge (TBRG) and an antifreeze-based attachment have been discussed which would measure rain as well as snow precipitation. The TBRG and the antifreeze-based attachment have been designed to reduce the shortcomings of commercial TBRGs and antifreeze-based attachments. Our TBRG provides faster rain and snow water equivalent data. The highest measurement rate for rain and snow water equivalent is found to be 375 mm/hr and 16.4 mm/hr respectively. The design considerations, field and laboratory trials and results of the TBRG and the antifreeze-based attachment have been discussed in detail in this paper.