The New SBS Siphon Rain Gauge!
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The SBS Siphon Gauge is ideal for regions where high intensity rainfall is common. Check out the datasheet for the SBS Siphon gauge here. The image below is a cut-away funnel showing the siphon and tipping bucket mechanism. 
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Tipping bucket rain gauges are the preferred choice of many Meteorological and Hydrological Services around the world because they are accurate, simple, cost effective and easy-to-use. However, many users will be aware of the losses which occur during high rainfall intensities. These are caused by the time taken from when one bucket compartment is full and starts to tip, to the time that water starts to fill the adjacent bucket compartment. During this short time period, water continues to fill the already-full bucket, meaning that this water is effectively lost from the measuring process. This means that, the higher the rainfall intensity, the higher the losses.
There are two ways to resolve this problem, either by software or by hardware. We will write an article on the software correction at another time, but the new product we present here is correction by hardware - using a siphon rain gauge.
The Siphon SBS gauge works by collecting water in the siphon device, which replaces the ordinary white nozzle of the normal SBS. This siphon controls the flow of water so that a known flow rate is discharged periodically into the tipping bucket mechanism. Through detailed laboratory testing, the tipping bucket mechanism can be balanced to received the correct volume of water, calibrated specfically to the flow rate delivered by the Siphon. This means that regardless of the intensity of the rainfall which falls into the funnel (whether high or low), the siphon mechanism ensures that the water is delivered to the tipping bucket mechanisma at the same flow rate.
There are two ways to resolve this problem, either by software or by hardware. We will write an article on the software correction at another time, but the new product we present here is correction by hardware - using a siphon rain gauge.
The Siphon SBS gauge works by collecting water in the siphon device, which replaces the ordinary white nozzle of the normal SBS. This siphon controls the flow of water so that a known flow rate is discharged periodically into the tipping bucket mechanism. Through detailed laboratory testing, the tipping bucket mechanism can be balanced to received the correct volume of water, calibrated specfically to the flow rate delivered by the Siphon. This means that regardless of the intensity of the rainfall which falls into the funnel (whether high or low), the siphon mechanism ensures that the water is delivered to the tipping bucket mechanisma at the same flow rate.