DOI: 10.6073/pasta/855fe457e389b56c3e032303ecffbf73
title: Precipitation - BES gauge network

description: Rain depth is collected using model 6011-A tipping bucket rain gauges manufactured by All Weather Inc. (formerly Qualimetrics).  Two raingauges (RG1 and RG2) are installed at each of eight stations. Each rain gauge tip represents a depth of 0.01 inches of rainfall.  Data are recorded by a data logger at the station and telemetered hourly to UMBC, where the data are stored in a data base. The rain gauges are not heated and therefore snow and ice storms are removed from the published record. The QA/QC procedure applied to the raw data includes removal of false tips and snow/ice events, accumulating tip data to a time series in inches/min, applying a laboratory-based calibration curve to the data, and converting corrected data to a one-minute time series in units of mm/min for publication. 
      
      
          Type of instrument: Tipping bucket rain gauge
      
          Manufacturer: All Weather Inc. (formerly Qualimetrics Inc.) http://www.allweatherinc.com/
      
          Model number: 6011-A
      
          Orifice opening: 8 in diameter (20 cm)
      
          Sensitivity: 0.01 in (0.25 mm)
      
          Manufacturer's specified calibrated accuracy: +/-0.5% at 0.5 in/hr.
      
          Manufacturer's specified repeatability: +/-3%
      
      
          Station information
      
          Each of eight stations consists of two tipping bucket rain gauges, a data logger (Campbell Scientific CR10X), a power source (10 W solar panel, solar controller, 12V 42 amp-hr battery), and a device for data transmission (Sierra Wireless AirLink Raven RV50). A contract is held with AT+T for data transmission. 
      
      
          Raw data (time stamps of 0.01 inch tips) are recorded to the data logger and transmitted hourly via the Raven to University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) and stored in a data base at UMBC.  Data streaming into UMBC are checked after every storm.  Raw data can be viewed online at http://his10.umbc.edu/Precip/.  If a station fails to transmit data, the station is visited after a storm for troubleshooting.  Otherwise, stations are visited every 60 days to remove debris and trim weeds, check wiring and moving parts, clean solar panels, and remove any spider webs and insect nests. The rain gauges are not heated and therefore do not accurately record precipitation during snow and ice events. The rain gauges are deployed at locations listed in Table 1. 
      
      
          The following QA/QC procedure is applied to the raw data to prepare for publication. (1) False tips are removed from the records; (2) snow and ice events are removed from the records; (3) a script is applied to the raw data to (a) accumulate the data to one-minute increments to derive a rain-rate time series; (b) apply a laboratory-derived calibration curve to the rain-rate time series, where a calibration is unique to a rain gauge; and (c) convert the data to desired units for publication (e.g., mm/min). 
      
          Station name	Station ID serial number*	RG2 serial number*
      
          Carrie Murray Nature Center, 	WXCMNC, 	2821, 2238
      
          Carroll Park Golf Course, 	WXCPGC, 	2244, 	2494
      
          Dead Run near Catonsville, 	WXDRNC, 2473	, 2486
      
          Glyndon Elementary School, 	WXGFGL, 	2126, 	2255
      
          Gwynns Falls Near Delight	, WXGFND	, 	2157, 	2168
      
          McDonogh School	, WXMCDO, 	2231	, 2248
      
          Oregon Ridge Park, 	WXORDG, ,2250	, 2124
      
          UMBC Campus	, WXUMBC, 2252	, 2873
      
          * Deployment locations as of 12/31/2017
      
      
          For further information contact: Claire Welty, UMBC, weltyc@umbc.edu
      
      
      
          Locations
      
          Carrie Murray Nature Center, 39d18m26.09sN, 76d41m42.26sW
      
          Carroll Park Golf Course		, 39d16m24.93sN, 76d38m54.91sW 
      
          Dead Run Near Catonsville (DR5), 	39d17m45.19sN, 76d44m38.50sW 
      
          Glyndon Elementary School, 		39d28m05.60sN, 76d48m37.80sW 
      
          Gywnns Falls Near Delight		, 39d26m38.01sN, 76d46m57.61sW 
      
          McDonogh School, 				39d23m46.81sN, 76d46m17.07sW 
      
          Oregon Ridge Park			, 39d29m47.65sN, 76d41m20.42sW
      
          UMBC,  					39d15m15.48sN, 76d42m08.42sW