Abstract

CHASSAIGNE, Alberto; AVILA, Manuel  and  MADRIZ, Jesús. Calibration of rain gauge and thermohygrometers in automated weather stations. Agronomía Trop. [online]. 2013, vol.63, n.3-4, pp.185-192. ISSN 0002-192X.

In Venezuela farms and research institutes have incorporated Automatic Weather Stations (EMA, acronymin in spanish) in their systems, which require calibration periodically to ensure reliability of results. The aim of this work was to verify the calibration of a rain gauge PCR800 (Brand Oregon) and three thermohygrometers WMR200A (Brand Oregon) before installation. Static and dynamic tests were applied in the rain gauge. The thermohygrometers THGN801 were calibrated by adjusting temperature in oven and the results were compared with a calibrated thermohygrometer. The rain gauge static test indicated that the differences between the added water and water recorded for all levels were not significant (P<0.025); while the dynamic test indicated a maximum difference of 3 mm between wireless rain gauge and conventional one, used as reference. Thermohygrometers differences in temperature and relative humidity with respect to standard did not exceed tolerances of the equipment and showed no significant variations (P<0.025). It was verified that the calibration of the gauge and the thermohygrometers were conformed to the tolerances stated by manufacturers for a wide range of levels of precipitation, temperature and relative humidity.

Keywords : metrology; weather instruments; wireless.

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