MRW500 Rain Gauge

The MRW500 is a rain gauge based on weight measuring principle and with 500 cm2 of the catchment area. This device is designed for the measuring of the liquid as well as the solid precipitation.
Rain gauge consists of two vessels and the move of liquids between them is realized by the pumps. The upper, weighted vessel catches the falling precipitation and contains antifreeze liquid in which solid precipitation thaws. Apart from the antifreeze, the upper vessel also contains a thin layer of silicon oil to prevent evaporation. By that the measuring error caused by evaporation during ongoing precipitation is suppressed.
Effective capacity of the lower, collection vessel is 70 litres with an initial charge of 20 litres of antifreeze; therefore, with the catchment area of 500 cm2 , the effective capacity equals 1,400 mm of precipitation. To promote the capacity even higher, the construction of the lower vessel supports the natural evaporation of rainwater from the mixture of water and antifreeze.
Depending on actual precipitation and outdoor temperature the collar of the catching aperture is heated by intensive and short-period , so called “shock” heating. This prevents undesirable reduction of catching area by snow glued on the collar.
Rain gauge have integrated the “hardware” and also “software” rain detector. Both detectors helps to observe a process of precipitation and to solve nonstandard situations.
Available options of the rain gauge include external heating of the upper part for extreme winter conditions.