Precipitation

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 Precipitation

• All types of moisture reaching the surface of earth from

atmosphere.

• Deposition of water (liquid or solid) from the atmosphere to

the earth surface

• Classified according to the lifting mechanism

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 How precipitation is formed

• Lifting mechanism to cool the air

• Formation of cloud elements (Hygroscopic nuclei)
• Growth of cloud elements
• Sufficient accumulation of cloud elements

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 Lifting mechanisms

• Convective precipitation
• Orographic precipitation
• Frontal precipitation

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 Lifting mechanisms contd...

Convective precipitation: results from the heating of the

earth's surface that causes air to rise rapidly. As the air
rises, it cools and moisture condenses into clouds and
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precipitation.
 Lifting mechanisms contd...

Cyclonic precipitation: results when the leading edge( front)

of a warm air mass meets a cool air mass. The warmer air mass
is forced up over the cool air. As it rises the warm air cools,
moisture in the air condenses, clouds and precipitation result. 6
 Lifting mechanisms contd...

Orographic precipitation: results when warm moist air

of the ocean is forced to rise by large mountains. As the
air rises it cools, moisture in the air condenses and
clouds and precipitation result on the windward side of
the mountain while the leeward side receives very little. 7
Forms of precipitation

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 Dew

• The small drops of water which can be found on cool

surfaces like grass in the morning.
• This is the result of atmospheric vapor condensing
on the surface in the colder night air.

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 Mist/Drizle

• Mist is a bunch of small droplets of water which

are in the air. This occurs with cold air when it
is above a warm surface, for example water

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 Fog

• There is no different between fog and the clouds that

are high in the sky. In simple terms fog is a cloud that
has formed near the surface of the Earth.
• Fog and mist are very similar, the only difference is
their visibility.
• If you cannot see 1 kilometer or less you're
dealing with fog. 11
 Rainfall
Light
I = 2.5mm/hr

Moderate
I = 2.8-7.6mm/hr

Heavy
I > 7.6 mm/hr
• Rain is the most common type of precipitation in our atmosphere
• Rain is when liquid droplets fall to the surface of the Earth.
• There are two different forms of rain, either in the form of
• Showers
• drizzles
• Showers are heavy, large drops of rain and usually only last a
period of time.
• Drizzles however usually last longer and are made up of smaller
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droplets of water.
 Snow

• Snow forms when water vapor turns directly into ice

without ever passing through a liquid state. This
happens as water condenses around an ice crystal.

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Measurement of precipitation

1. Amount

2. Intensity

3. Duration

4. Arial extent

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Measurement of precipitation

• Direct measurement

• Rain gauges

• Indirect measurement

• Remote sensing (Radars, Satellites)

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 Measurement of precipitation
• Rainfall Gauges provide point measurements of rainfall at the
ground surface (intensity, accumulated rainfall depth)
• Types of Rainfall Gauges (different standards and sizes of
rainfall gauges in different countries)
• Non-Recording (total accumulated depth)
• Recording (intensity of rainfall, continuous plot of rainfall
against time)
• A record of rainfall depth (cm/hr) versus time is called a
hyetograph (most often used as inputs to hydrologic models)
• Factors affecting the accuracy: Exposure of the gauge, Wind
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 Direct measurement of precipitation
• Non recording rain gauge: which does not provide the
distribution of amount of precipitation in a day. It simply
gives the amount of precipitation after 24 hours (daily
precipitation).

• Recording rain gauge: Records cumulative rainfall. In

addition to the total amount of rainfall at a station, it gives
the times of onset and cessation of rains (thereby gives the
duration of rainfall events)

1. Float type rain gauges

2. Tipping bucket type rain gauges
3. Weighing type rain gauges

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 Errors in precipitation measurement by Rain Gauge

• Instrumental errors
• Errors in scale reading
• Dent in receivers
• Dent in measuring cylinders
• About 0.25mm of water is initially required to wet the surface
of gauge
• Rain gauges splash from collector
• Frictional effects
• Non verticality of measuring cylinders (10° inclination gives
1.5% less precipitation)
• Loss of water by evaporation
• Leakage in measuring cylinder
• Wind speed reduces measured amount of rain in the rain
gauges.
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 Optimum number of gauges
Optimum number of gauges (N) can be found according to:

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Cv
N=
ε

Cv coefficient of variation of rainfall calculated from the

existing stations

Standard deviation
Cv =
Mean
A high value of Cv indicates high spatial rainfall variability

ε allowable degree of error (standard error) in the

estimate of mean areal rainfall

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 Indirect measurement
• Remote sensing is defining as the science of observation from
distance
Barret and Curtis (1995)

• Remote sensing may be defined as the acquisition of information

about objects without being in physical contact with the object
Thomas et al. (1979)

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 Radar measurement of precipitation
Principle
• Radar emits electromagnetic energy which is partially scattered,
absorbed and reflected when it hits the clouds

• Some of the reflected energy returns to the transmitter

• The average power of the reflected energy (Pav ) is related to

radar reflectivity (Z)
𝐶𝐿𝑍
Pav = 2
𝑟

• where C is the radar constant, r is the radius and L is fractional

signal losses by attenuation ( loss of energy due to passage
through precipitation)
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 Radar measurement of precipitation contd…

• The rainfall is estimated from the following relation

Z = 𝑎𝑅 𝑏
• where a and b are constants which can be estimated by
calibration using rainfall gauge measurements (exclusive
use of radars is not yet achieved)
• Z (mm6/m3), R (mm/day), a varies between 15 & 1100 and
b varies between 1.2 & 3.2.

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 Estimation of precipitation by satellite

• When the cloud-top temperature falls below approximately

- 40°C, there is some rainfall occurring below

• These types of clouds are known as cold clouds

• Cold Cloud Duration (CCD): The time spent by an area having

with cloud-top temperatures below the threshold

• CCD is related to rainfall

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 Interpretation of precipitation data
1. Averaging precipitation over an area
• Arithmetic mean method
• Thiessen polygon method
• Isohyetal method

2. Estimating missing precipitation data at a station

• Arithmetic mean method
• Normal ratio method

3. Checking inconsistency in particular data at a station

• Double mass curve 24