UNCLASSIFIED

AD NUMBER

CLASSIFICATION CHANGESTO:FROM:

LIMITATION CHANGESTO:

FROM:

AUTHORITY

THIS PAGE IS UNCLASSIFIED

ADA800330

unclassified

restricted

Approved for public release; distribution isunlimited.

Distribution authorized to DoD only;Administrative/Operational Use; 15 MAY 1952.Other requests shall be referred to SignalCorps Engineering Laboratories, Fort Monmouth,NJ. Pre-dates formal DoD distributionstatements. Treat as DoD only.

E.O. 10501 dtd 5 Nov 1953; AEC ltr dtd 3 Dec1965

j! When Government or other drawings, s 'T data are used for my purpose otter' than in

a «definitely related Government procurement operation, the XJ0$. Government thereby incurs no responsibility, nor

S: or

whatsoever;

or other data is not to be regarded by implication or otherwise as in ais¥ manner licensing the holder or any other person ör corpora-

i, or conveying any rights or permission to manufacture, use or'. in any way be. related thereto*'"''

if.«

Bgagsagsagszss^sasKigBsagsszBzsBasE

SS&VS&^to»«»^^

'@2I£52?^?!£2S**'WS)|F^^ ,a«gHt*aa'KieBjB»P3flWlBgiBBfBMIWaTO

T.-

- . i

H

(Unpublished Card) 'RESTRICTED

ATI 1C6 345. ; ^Copies obtainable from ÄSTiA<-?DSC)

University of Illinois, Urbana (lsr Quarterly Progress Report)'

• Precipitation Measurements Study - 15 March to 15 May 1952

Kurtyka, John C. ; Madöw, LMlrari 15 May'52 12pp;= diagr

Precipitation. - Measurement Instruments,, Meteorological

Metförpiögy;(.3Q) Aqueous Vapor arid1

Hydrom&teors (6)

RESTRICTED

(•)

r i

i,

arewagMw-ayrsMj^jaB^^ wiaiHfrg;' - - *y*^ "S^^^S^IJ.&T^^^ ^S^figju*Jggq^rf&

jW V 't"

• -. % < ;";>C' v:tf> 1st t -

.= ;."

''<••- —~—-\-

< » './'K, ' *

\ *

RFSTPTPTPH

PRECIPITATION MEASUREMENTS STUDY

FIRST QUARTERLY PROGRESS REPORT

for period 15 Ma*öh 195? to 1$ May 1932

"4:'.'

Signal Corns Contract« '15^8^ DePatftwent, of the Army Projects 3^6-02-0^2

. Signal Corps Project* . 7$M&*0 Plaeed byi tj, "SU Army,. Signal Corps Engirieeriag Laboratories

. Fort Monmouth., N*. J«' ' .

••••."--• t

if

from University of Illinois •' -• >, ., ; and" '

. j;ilinOii;s, .State- Wetter Survey. • tfr'oana.» Illinois ,

*

k.> y^ '-•.-,, t> a > d i-i d )

CM )U ^C

waaä.BtUiifc^&^^W*<XVrr*l

r s

Is

fei

If,

'•*.•"'

'"> -

«# » . . *

SEDUfiiTY 1MF0RMATIÜN

PRECIPITATION MBAStJRjWäSRTS STUDY.

. FIRST OPARTERLlf PROGRESS REPORT

für period X5 ttaroh 1952 to 15 Mey 1952

Methods of measuring ^eci^itation for use with the automatic weather station

Signal Corps Contract No.-.. *§W Department of the Army Project: 3-36-02-042

Signal Corws Project No..: ?9^C-^

Prepared By John C, Kurtyka, Project Engineer

Mrs« Lillian Madow,, Statistician

V ' A-, M,„ Buswell |] S.E, Stout Project Supervisor p Gröuo Leader

This document contains information affecting the national defense of the ijnited States within the meaning of the Espionage Laws, Title 18U4-Ä, sections 793 and 794» Th6 transmission -. or the revelation of its contents in any manner to an unauthor- ized person is prohibited by law.*,

RESTRICTED

s-l

^j*jÄ3es-i55i3?^

'•' f-h'

"*t**W* i-.-y-,-, ^..jsistö

w

n 1 •

H' -i -

M-

Table ©f Contents

?-* J

4'

^ „#«»««>«>«£ Page 1

. , Page 1 BÜJ?pOS© » » i »° ••**-•

Task A . -. •.'" . . . * » V'V" *•'• •«"_•• • 8

.,,'. . „ '., '. Page 9 Task B ». «, » • •• *

Publications* Lectures> Reports* and Conferences «*..#« «

Persoifiel • . • • • • • • • * § » • •

Page 11

Page 12

:'l

1* r

|4

V.I

v>4

SECURITY INPöRWnON • 1»0 Purpose* A study is being wade of all known .sethods öf • %

measuring biiö'oi'T)ltBtion, "both-liquid enü, solid, which may •-.*{

occur In nature, with, a view tö adapting these technioues

of precipitation measurement to unattended automatic

wea ther "st 6-t ion"' on era tiöru

lei Scone öf work. The work, has been divided into two tasks,,

which aret reported below as follows: , ,

Task A. Bibliography on Precipitation Measurements-* r Paragraphs 1.1 - 1«A. v

Task B. Statistical analysis of precision recmire- '^ raents for preololtation measurement« '<

Paragraphs 2..0 - 2,4«, = .-»:

TASK A :'":

1*11 Phase 1 — The search T3he.se of the preparation of the "bib- :;

llpgraphy was begun at the libraries of the University of !.;

I3.li.1ois. A trin by the Project Engineer vo the Signal r'

Corps Laboratory/ Belmar, "M. J.J the American Meteorologie I'

cal Abstracts and Bibliogra/ony Section, Library of Con- •;

grass, Washington, D. -G.-J and the U. S«. Weather Bureau, _\

Washingtoni D. CM resulted'in a large volume, of bibiio-r !:

graphical material. To date* 309 articles on precipitation -\

measurement have been -placed on our reference list.. Gör- , J

resoohdence-has been carried on with Other groups using

various tyoes of ^recloitatio:* gages» 6r. C. P* Brooks

of Harvard University has been most Cooperative in sup-

plying information and data*

1«,12 Phase 2 •*• Tabulation and Publication. Pertinent infor-

mation on all references has -een Placed on cards as

this will facilitate the publication of. the bibliography?

RESTRICTED SECURITY INFORMATION

1 ' _

H;"-

•i) if

• m.

ft 1

-2-

1.3

67-of the articles have been reviewed and abstracted.

160 references are not available locally. About 30$ of

the references, are in foreign languages and some of the

important ones will "be translated«

At the present time the bibliography is about 30$

complete. As articles are reviewed, more references ere

found and in this manner the bibliography is constantly

expanding. ' .- •. r '; -l -

Phase 3 - Review and evaluation of the known methods of

measuring precipitation.« This work has not begun»

1,31 The following lists contain the precipitation measure-

ment methods that have been found.

I*. Won^Recordinf .gages•» : - A, All of the following gages are; similar in Opera-

tion and have only minor design differences-« They

are cylindrically funneled gages*

1«. 5-inch gage of the Meteorological Office, Great Britain» (Snowdon)

,. : &*< - %$%~lKi<ih gage of the Canadian Meteorologi- cal Division.

3, .8«-inch gage of the Ü. S, Weather Bureau«

o 4. 7,,6^1noh U. ,S. forest Service Type Gsge,

% , Desert type gage* .

6? Bradford Gage 9

7* Symons Gage«

'S« Harvard Gsge*

9. . Glaisher Gage.

i 1

A

.^ppgaypw1* }2±j^w**£=za*m*Bnti0swm.%rnrwiii'vimsiw •^f^rer-jßjFwrj!»««!

'"N

- Vi 'a

4 1

10« Fleming Gage»

"11 • ''Stewart Gage." v

12, Victor'Gage. :

13. • Hellmann. Gage».

1&«, :,Seäthwäite Gage*

3L5* Kostlivy: Gage«

16» Tonnehplt Gage?

B, The,next,.W gaged Have, in addition to a hori-

zontal orifice, orifices that are vertical or at

a steep angle. The rotating types face into the

wind while the non-rotating tywes have orifices

facing cardinal points of the compass*

Q9 The following gages are totalizer or storage

periods and, usually have an ell covered anti-

freeze solution to melt and preserve Precipitation

2« Maurer.

4, Möugin.

5. Pollack.

6«, Marvin*

f 'f|

< I

•':\

•hi" x. Haas-Lutschg spherical raingage. ' t\ ,13

-^ °-: .-.'/... *_*.— \ : t-ti.:

2e Vectopluviometer (non-rotating)

3, Vectbpluviometer (rotating). ^ ; lj|!

k. Directional ge$e (rotating and dipping).' *J i, • ,,««*• A •«i M£e tro-tating etna ai»i»i*«it n

? type gages that are left unattended for long - jj

M

. 'If - - - -••>•. ! ;7. that is 'caught* "--- •••. ...'->•..-.•. , . • '.*

! J8 Bigelow, '

T'X

MiiVyi ByMMggyj ...

-%-

Di The- followlKT .rAgöä aÄ »iseelleDecus tarpee not

too gener»! 1^ wsi, ^elr orifices are either

unusual in size, or shape. , .

1, Trough geipe»

,'"«. 1/1000- acre gage» ' ! '• . _; ~" -"-

3,. Stereo type gage, (ell Iptical or if ice J •,,., parallel to .grouna;

%,, Concrete catelraent grge. (51 dia.) ' ,

«5» BAB.*'

*•

y

II• Recording' Type Gage...

A« Float type,, without autpioetlc siphon*

1. Negretti and Zejabra-Kyetagrawh* lain, is

collected in a funnel end passes down a tube

into a float chei5*>er causing one float to

- - • rise« A rod extending uowerd froaa the float

has 8 -equally spaced studs on it. These

studs engage a 'wallet on the 'pen, arm «nä

" thereby give the pea 8 traverses, one fop ',

• , each stud. The float chamber holds h inches

led by pushing the float of rain, and Is easpt

down»

..2. Rossi snow gage that uses oil for tie float«

B. A:«tOiii,st,lc $tohoh öage and, float gages- -

1. Megrettl and Sambra natural Siphon Gage. x 1,

float chaMber is emptied when water reaches a

-level that will fill ,the^.cJi.afflber.__ The siphon

' - ~ -<*P »-"l" V

KS*re?tW^aS»

-5*

n

. action is .automatic.eind takes about 6 seconds -

to enpty thfe chamber* 'She pea era Is attaches

...... to a float and. records this, a otic:«»

2;,« Berlin (Hasse unknown«'1 • This gage is natural

siphon tjoe tout t&^slPhon action was trans'*

f erred to a mercury manometer arrangement with

the water siphoning off-at a, predetermined';'.

level« On© side of the manometer is la. oonr*

taeiTwltfa the water and Its cyclic action«

while, the other side has a float with a pen.

arm attached to It thereby recording such

action« . •

3- Kent syphon« .

C, Weight type gages. (Collector of water is weighed.)

1 o Bel In ann-Fues s ...

2. Fergusson.

3« Stevens*

ft» 'Sprung.

5- Tipping bucket gage«

y

r

J ...

• I 1

D. Combination types«

1, Rung gage. '(Weight and tipping bucket)

2« Nilsson. (.Weight and tipping bucket)

3« X>. Palazzo. (Siphon and tipping bucket)

%„ Jules Richard« (Float and electric valve)

5. Fuess. {Weight and tipp.Ing bucket)

6» «lardi, (Float ami; valve)

•jssr •9wm*v»sc-*<>&*

-6-

7. Sti,• . (Clock; ope:rated v? 1 ves , 3 conts iner s hold 1, Mnute* s. iBtaipti,;f•, float recording»>. 1

1

.

B« Kiscellaneous tyae gages•

3U Radioactive Snow Gape emoloys radioactive

• cobalt 60 placed on the ground with Goiger-

Hraellar tube suspended on er It to detect

radiation. " "the strength of the signal (counts)

Is proportional to the deoth of" water eqoi«

- valent between the two».

2» Hyers pressure type gage« Era?>loys< a "Micro-

sen 0"; to 10" oressure transducer• as the

sensing:" element. At the 10" pressure .(!• of

precip») an electrically operated dumo valve

empties the system (1,0 use Tonds required)

and" then the operation repeats itself. U.S.

Weather Bureau. — A*E*G. design»

*J» Williamson gage» (English) As water' In a

rain, gage reservoir begins to rise it comes

in contact with a.hanging weighted wire« This

contact closes a circuit and actuates a small

electric motor which in turn 'hoists the wire

until it 'raises out of the water and breaks

the actuating contact«

,F» Experimental methods wi th poss ible pr ecfo I tat Ion,;

gaging apolication» <

1,#, Heating units«, fee amount of energy necessary

to keep a loosed rod or round disc dry con,

•7-

m

•f?

VP3

H

-i a

fi-'i "be ineasured,. This energy In turn Is pro- 1

f| ,\_... ; . .. , 5 pprtlonal to the amount of precipitation |l "T-

j

? .r

••••' striking them,

ji. jSanillary collector. This instrument uses

_ capillary„phenomena to collect and retain

.• .water drops striking, a smell porous surface.

3,> Maulard Listening' device« (French) A tele-

phone receiver is modified to allow water to

, .... 3?un off and to reproduce the effects of rajja-

:-..., drops striking a smpll disc attached to the

, receiver's membrana.«

ki Gunn experiments with falling drops» Two

.vertically separated ring« are so arranged

that a raindrop falling, through them will

induce two pulses on a tape oscillograph

which are difßctiy proportional to the

velocity of, the droo„/

,5» Stehfeerger electric nose* Consists of two ;|

large cylindrical condensers in a differen- -1

tial circuit to measure, the conductivity of j

- " • i the air between the condensorsa The eon- 1

ductivlty is proportional to the amount of 4

particles in the air* ' |

6* Impactometer «* functions on amount of energy 1

departed with by a drop impinging on ä sur- ' |

face» {Similar to listening device«) ]

?o Disdrometer. An instrumei-t for measuring (

'4

SI "I .'

W,^l,~-W|UM,^MWJill»WWU<*!,1 UJ'WPJMIU

1=*»

•»8"

li feJ

H I :

ü * i II Is i I

rain drop sise by opoicrl network« The amount

of light. In a. beam varies as the ömouni-'of tnte^r-

•ferenoe by falling drops« "- / -

G.s Wind protection for rain gages8

1, Nipher Shield. ''

2. Alter Shield,

3., Pit gsging.

k, Turf-wailed ,i> Its.

5» Fences« ,

1*4 Research* Very little has been done here in the way of re-

search on gages» One problem thao was briefly investigated

was an oll^wpter, separator for rain^snow gages* .

I

-* FIGURE I

A problem Of melting snow by heating the funnels of

recording gages, has been that many small drops of water

would cling to ohe funnel and would therefore be subjected

to evaporation ©a-ysed by the. high temperature gradient be-

tween the funnel and surrounding.air. To sidestep this, a

funnel (Fig*. .1^ was partiäliy filled with water covered by

persistent pattern of precipitation in the data obtained by

the State Water Survey In 19^8-195% from ralngage network

on the Panther Creek watershed (95 square miles) has been

completed and a XV&l renort of the study will be included

in technical report ,#1. The work on this problem- was con-

tinued during. APrll 1,952, beyond wh.?fc had been done during

March because some questions were raised concerning the •

earlier results«. The technical report now includes para-

metric as well as non-*r>arametric tests of the hypothesis that

#1

—9<-

y a very light oil. A l/2(s tube (A) was placed in \ he mouth

H . of the funnel and extended a^ove the surface Of the oil»

H -Another shorter length tube (B) was soldered to tube (Ä)

t* With a notch or weir (C) Cut between them so that water

|1 would flow frpin (B) into (A). The lower opeil end of (B)

|| was placed below the oil surface and this affected the sepa~ J' h ° . . - ' " •••"-" V jj rations Snow would fall onto the oil, be melted, and sink 1 i >• ..-.., .'•-••••" h.-. I below tö the water. This would increase the head at the »I---- -

weir and C8Use water to flow UP tube (B) aM down tube (A)

to be recorded. Of course the temperature of the water

must be kept above freezing- by a suitable heating apparatus»

It became immediately apparent that the instrument had

• large lag Characteristics caused by the elasticity of the

water film. The addition of deterrgeht to the water tended

to alleviate this condition but not-enövgh to be satisfac- |fc

tory» Work on the investigation has been temporarily sus-

pended in order to,complete the bibliography*

' ?ASK B - :"",""-•-"'''" 2.0 Wfork-^completed,» The study of the existence of a

i*

%

:-;*&?• -•KSS,»"~r:^?55^>- ^TT^setsyyffiy^^w^^ff^,"»" - "F'T ,'wn«^i

—XO"

I

no.persistent pattern of rainfall, exists in the Panther Creek

watershed during, the summer thunderstorm season« "•-••

2,1 The results o? the parametric tests Of the hypothesis of *

equal precipitation in the,Panther Creek watarshed* for

1950 and. 195L,:,the years in which adequate data were avail-

able, do not show significance,, .thereby, supporting_ the pre-^

vious-findings of the non-parametric tests that there was'

no statistical evidence to disprove the hypothesis of ran?-

domness of precipitation within Panther Creek* -, - _

2.2. Since a Question was raised as to whether there was not, in

fact, consistently more rainfall in the southern part as

compared with the northern part of Panther Greek, two ad-

, dltional comparisons were madev One was the coraoarison of

the northern „and southern parts of Panther Creek,, "by means

of the tatest?... The results showed significantly higher

precipitation in the s outhern Part for the year 1951 but .

not for the.year 1,950, the only two years for which adequate

data, were available for this study». On the/basis of this

evidence» it would not.be possible to conclude that the •

southern i^art of Panther Creek has more.orecioitatiGn*

'I t

:\ A-

% '- i "'•}

1

f g.«3 .The second comparison made was that between ;Gridley exiä.

Minönk, Ü» S» Weather Bureau Cooperative stations bordering«.

the Panther Creek watershed,.Just to ./-.he south and to the

, norths respectively,«. • Twelve years, 1.9^-0 through 1951*

of monthly-data were .available, and the thunderstorm months

vsmem^rv^^^^^^^^^

••1 = r

——

. FIT "*i .'•'• ji i Pe.ü -•

-II* SECÜ-ITY IWÖRÄT10I of May through September were studied. The non-parametric

„$ig& Itest ähowedu.s,i^nif?0pntly higher precipitation at

Gridley than at Minonfc, but the t-test taking actual, pre-

cipitation values into aeootht did .iot« This suggests that.

there probably is a significant difference in precipitation

' between tiie" two stations but that the variabiD.ity is'so

great that even 12 yeerg of records are insufficient to

establish the significance of the observed difference of

«30 inches per month which v&s observed over the 12 years«

It is estimated that it would tafte abort 20. years of data

Of the kind that we?'© available for the 12 year period to

establisfi the significance* of' the *jj0 Inches difference in

..precl-oitatijon between t^e'two stations.»

S?A So" far';a#js%ftisi|cf^ methodology is concerned.,, with re*

sr>eöt to studies of Pattern of precipitation, it seems

from the'present study that the nonr-Parametric tests are

more liicely t§ 'Show existence of differences from hypothe-

ses tested than are the parametric tests,!

4 PUBLICATIONS,' LECTURES. REPORTS .AMD. CONFERENCES

' 3-Ö Since this. Project Is classified, publications, lectures,

reports, and conferences have been held to a minimum.

3-1- A 2-hOur seminar on the problems of gaging precipitation

Was Conducted for ,the Survey's Meteorologie staff.«

• ' PROGRAM FOR NEXT INTERVAL

^90 Plans for the future Will be continued expansion of the

bibliograpiiy with the emphasis being shifted fr cm-search-

SECÜRiTY INFÖRiAliOM

Pi

$ *

W

iFORigii -ife*

to review ahd evaluation « iVCÖ'

4*1 Kork ,in progress •* The calculations öf the sailing vari-

ance for samples of size Zt % %4 6, 9, 12., and 18 are

"almost complete for the year 1950» on a storm day basis*

4.11 The sampling, variance study for 1951 has only just been

started.- ••'•-'.

V ;E

5«0

PERSONNEL

Dr, A. M. Buswell*, Project Supervisor«.

H* E« Hudson, Jr.f Technical Advisor«

'Glenn E. Stout*, Group Leader»

John G. Kurtyka,, Project Engineer, began 10 March, - , 1952*

Mrs. Lillian Madow*, Statistician«,

Edward KUcinsky^, Student Ass't»

William Birke*, Student Ass1t (Computer).

Hyman Chasraan*, Student Ass't (Computer).

Mrs.« Eileen Znäniecki^, .Translator«••

Part time

... T—