Abstract:
The main aim of this thesis was to produce a relatively inexpensive and easy to construct raindrop size spectrometer or "disdrometer". Appropriate design criteria were established. These conditions as well as a brief history of the project are discussed. Also discussed is a brief history of measuring raindrops, the properties and the bulk quantities of raindrops. The disdrometers that were developed were then used singularly and in an array at the Ardmore field site and the results are then compared to raingauges and radar. For data from single disdrometers, the distributions and the Z - R relationship are examined as well as relationships between the distribution parameters. The data from multiple disdrometers is combined and compared to the data of a single disdrometer to see how using multiple disdrometers improves the sampling statistics. The disdrometer performed well when compared to both radar and raingauges. On a single disdrometer basis, it was also found that the Z - R relationship varied depending on the temporal resolution but also that differences away from the exact values of the relationship were minor. On a multiple disdrometer basis, it was found that there was an improvement in the sampling statistic of the order predicted and that the Z-.R relationship also changed when using the combined data.
