A Comparison of Oceanic Precipitation as Measured by Gage and Assessed from Weather Reports

Abstract

The problems of using raingages on ships are discussed, and methods of estimating rainfall from weather reports at sea are reviewed, with emphasis on discussion of efforts to verify the assessments derived by Tucker (1961). A raingage was used on cruises of the NOAA ship Oceanographer in the eastern Pacific during 1975 and 1976, and rainfall was estimated from weather reports using Tucker's assessments. In extratropical latitudes (mainly 40?60°N), a catch of 35 cm was obtained; estimates from the weather reports gave a value of 31 cm. Thus Tucker's assessments are essentially in agreement with catches from a small gage in this region. In the tropics, however, the agreement was not good. Almost three times as much rain was caught as was estimated; hence Tucker's coefficients will need to be reevaluated for this area.