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Proof of concept of an automated CoCoRaHS rain gauge

dc.contributor.authorLin, Jieqi, author
dc.contributor.authorJohnson, Gearold R., advisor
dc.contributor.authorTroxell, Wade O., committee member
dc.contributor.authorSiller, Thomas J., committee member
dc.date.accessioned2016-08-18T23:11:34Z
dc.date.available2017-08-17T06:30:24Z
dc.date.issued2016
dc.description.abstractCoCoRaHS is the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network, collecting daily precipitation reports from volunteers’ reading of a low-cost plastic 4-inch diameter rain gauge. Nolan Doesken, the Colorado State Climatologist following the disastrous Fort Collins flood of July 1997, created the network. Today there are more than 20,000 rain gauges in service. There are three limitations in the present CoCoRaHS rain gauge. The first limitation is limited temporal granularity, i.e., data measurements are only available once each 24-hours, in the best cases. The second limitation is not being able to capture data during an extreme event as it is occurring. The third limitation is because this is a volunteer activity other activities may interfere with the ability to collect daily data. The question is can the CoCoRaHS rain gauge be modified to eliminate these three restrictions while keeping the design as similar to the current system as possible. The design is to turn the present rain gauge into a weight-based automated rain gauge. An in-lab tested prototype was built requiring only that the rain gauge bracket needed modification. The result is a modified bracket holding a load-cell, microcontroller and Wi-Fi communications subsystems. A number of experiments were designed and conducted to prove the feasibility of the rain gauge. The conclusion is that a low-cost, high-accuracy weight-based automated CoCoRaHS rain gauge is achievable.
dc.format.mediumborn digital
dc.format.mediummasters theses
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10217/176747
dc.languageEnglish
dc.language.isoeng
dc.publisherColorado State University. Libraries
dc.relation.ispartof2000-2019
dc.rightsCopyright and other restrictions may apply. User is responsible for compliance with all applicable laws. For information about copyright law, please see https://libguides.colostate.edu/copyright.
dc.titleProof of concept of an automated CoCoRaHS rain gauge
dc.typeText
dcterms.embargo.expires2017-08-17
dcterms.embargo.terms2017-08-17
dcterms.rights.dplaThis Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights (https://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/). You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).
thesis.degree.disciplineMechanical Engineering
thesis.degree.grantorColorado State University
thesis.degree.levelMasters
thesis.degree.nameMaster of Science (M.S.)

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