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Precipitation measurements above a maize crop

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Summary

Because of the importance in some field studies of above crop liquid precipitation measurements, in this article an interpretation and an error assessment of above maize precipitation measurements are given. With Snowdon rain gauges from 20 to 40 cm above the maize, errors seem not to be higher than with a 40 cm Snowdon gauge above grass, as long as the wind field is again adjusted to new roughness conditions and turbulence is not enhanced otherwise. Differences found between gauges correctly and incorrectly exposed were relatively small due to the fact that the maize growing season falls clearly within the period of lowest influence of wind on rain gauge catch in the Netherlands. The use of comparative measurements between a 40 cm Snowdon gauge above grass and Snowdon ground level gauges installed following latest W. M. O.-recommendations appeared to be indispensable for ultimate error assessment.

Zusammenfassung

Wegen der Bedeutung von Messungen des flüssigen Niederschlages über Vegetationsbeständen bei manchen Feldstudien wird in dieser Arbeit eine Interpretation und Fehlerschätzung für Niederschlagsmessungen über Maisfeldern gegeben. Bei Messungen mit Regenmessern nach Snowdon von 20 bis 40 cm Höhe über Maisfeldern scheinen die Fehler nicht größer zu sein als bei Messungen mit einem 40 cm-Snowdon-Regenmesser über Gras, sobald das Windfeld sich wieder an die neuen Rauhigkeitsverhältnisse angeglichen hat und die Turbulenz nicht auf andere Art vergrößert worden ist. Die Unterschiede, die zwischen den Angaben von richtig und nichtrichtig exponierten Regenmessern gefunden wurden, sind zufolge der Tatsache, daß in den Niederlanden die Wachstumsperiode von Mais gerade in die Zeit fällt, in der der Wind den kleinsten Einfluß auf Regenmesser hat, relativ klein. Vergleichsmessungen mit einem 40 cm-Snowdon-Regenmesser über Gras und einem Bodenregenmesser nach Snowdon, der nach den letzten WMO-Empfehlungen aufgestellt ist, scheinen für eine endgültige Fehlerschätzung unerläßlich zu sein.

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  1. C. J. Stigter

    Present address: Department of Physics and, University of Dar es Salaam, P. O. Box 35063, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

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  1. Department of Physics and Meteorology, Agricultural University, Wageningen, The Netherlands

    C. J. Stigter

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Stigter, C.J. Precipitation measurements above a maize crop. Arch. Met. Geoph. Biokl. B. 24, 95–108 (1976). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02243389

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