CALIBRATION OF TIPPING BUCKET RAIN GAUGES

A tipping bucket rain gauge measures rain fall volumes with high resol ution, thus enabling calculation of rain intensities. To ensure that t he volume of one tipping is independent of the rain intensity a syphon is introduced. However, the syphon introduces problems with respect t o both a time lag and problems when reconstructing the underlying rain intensities. This problem is studied in detail. The rain gauge in que stion is a RIMCO tipping bucket rain gauge, used by the Danish Water P ollution Control Committee (DWPCC). The rain gauge has been tested in the laboratory and in the field. The study shows, that it is possible to reduce the syphon volume to a level where the problems of the sypho n are small and yet maintain the same accuracy with respect to volume registrations. (C) 1998 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.