A COMPACT OPTICAL RAIN DROPLET DISTROMETER FOR UNATTENDED FIELD OPERATION

SATELLITE AND SUPPORTING IN-SITU OBSERVATIONS OF PRECIPITATION PARAMETERS ARE CRITICALLY NEEDED TO SATISFY GLOBAL-SCALE CLIMATE MONITORING REQUIREMENTS. THE MAJOR SOURCE OF DATA WILL BE ESTIMATES OF RAINFALL AMOUNT DERIVED FROM THRESHOLD IR HISTOGRAMS OF GEOSTATIONARY SATELLITE OBSERVATIONS. SINCE THESE ARE SPACE-BASED INDIRECT MEASUREMENTS, IT WILL BE NECESSARY TO ASSESS THE VALIDITY OF THESE ESTIMATES THROUGH SOME MEANS USING GROUND BASED MEASUREMENTS AT TEST SITES WHERE RAINFALL PARAMETERS ARE RECORDED. SCIENTIFIC TECHNOLOGY, INC. IS PROPOSING TO DEVELOP AN INSTRUMENT TO MEASURE IN-SITU INSTANTANEOUS RAIN DROPLET SIZE DISTRIBUTIONS AND RAIN RATES USING RAIN-INDUCEDOPTICAL SCINTILLATIONS. THE INSTRUMENT IS COMPACT AND PRACTICAL FOR UNATTENDED WEATHER OBSERVATIONS AND WILL PROVIDE CRITICAL GROUND TRUTH TO SATISFY GLOBAL-SCALE CLIMATE MONITORING REQUIREMENTS FOR SPACE-BASED REMOTE SENSING MEASUREMENTS. IN PHASE I, SCIENTIFIC TECHNOLOGY, INC. WILL CONDUCT A THEORETICAL AND EMPIRICAL STUDY TO OBTAIN THE OPTIUM DESIGN PARAMETERS FOR A PROTOTYPE SENSOR. THE DESIGN WILL ADDRESS THE IMPORTANT ENGINEERING AND OPERATIONAL ISSUES AND WILL CONTAIN SUFFICIENT DETAIL TO MAKE AN ASSESSEMENT OF THE RESOURCES REQUIRED FOR PHASE II DEVELOPMENT.