Rain Gauge- Journals

  A rain gauge is an instrument used by meteorologists and hydrologists to gather and measure the amount of liquid precipitation over an area in a predefined period of time. The readings were correlated against expected growth. In the Arthashastra, used for example in Magadha, precise standards were set as to grain production. Each of the state storehouses were equipped with a rain gauge to classify land for taxation purposes. In 1441, the Cheugugin and snow gauges to reference rain, snowfall measurements, as well as other forms of meteorological data was invented during the reign of Sejong the Great of the Joseon Dynasty of Korea as the first standardized rain gauge. In 1662, Christopher Wren created the first tipping-bucket rain gauge in Britain in collaboration with Robert Hooke. A rain gauge is a meteorological instrument to measure the precipitating rain in a given amount of time per unit area. The instrument consists of a collection container which is placed in an open area. The precipitation is measured in terms of the height of the precipitated water accumulated in the container per given time and is expressed in millimetres. Since the same amount of rain precipitation is assumed to be occurring around the container, the area of collection is not a factor. However, it should not be too small, neither should it be too large. Due to spatial uniformity of rainfall, 1 mm of measured precipitation is the equivalent of 1 L of precipitated rain water volume per metre squared.