• Energy Research
• 13. Climate action close

Microwave engineers and geomorphologists require rainfall data with a much greater temporal resolution and a better representation of the numbers of large raindrops than is available from current commercial instruments. This paper describes an acoustic instrument that determines rain parameters from the sound of raindrops falling into a tank of water. There is a direct relationship between the kinetic energy (KE) of a raindrop and the acoustic energy that it creates upon impact. Rain KE flux density is estimated from measurements of the sound field in the tank, and these have been compared to measurements from a co-sited commercial disdrometer. Eight months of data have been collected in the eastern UK. Comparisons of rain KE estimated by the two instruments are presented and links between the KE and rainfall intensity are discussed. The sampling errors of the two instruments are analysed to show that the acoustic instrument can produce rain KE measurements with a 1 s integration time with sampling uncertainty of the same size as commercial instruments using a 1 min integration time.

AbstractRain gauge studies have shown that the incidence of rain at rates associated with outage on terrestrial links has shown an increasing trend in several countries over the last 30 years. However, no evidence is available from microwave links to show whether outage rates, or the incidence of fade, is similarly increasing. This paper presents evidence of fade trends, derived from a decade of rain radar data. Although a decade is too short a period to observe rain rate trends, evidence is presented that trends in the size of rain events is leading to changes in the relationship between point rain rates and rain fade. Furthermore, these trends are shown to vary significantly across the UK. Temporal trends in both rain rates and their link to rain fade, make it more difficult to adapt International Telecommunication Union Radiocommunication Reccomendations to a changing climate.

Extreme weather causes substantial adverse socio-economic impacts by damaging and disrupting the infrastructure services that underpin modern society. Globally, $2.5tn a year is spent on infrastructure which is typically designed to last decades, over which period projected changes in the climate will modify infrastructure performance. A systems approach has been developed to assess risks across all infrastructure sectors to guide national policy making and adaptation investment. The method analyses diverse evidence of climate risks and adaptation actions, to assess the urgency and extent of adaptation required. Application to the UK shows that despite recent adaptation efforts, risks to infrastructure outweigh opportunities. Flooding is the greatest risk to all infrastructure sectors: even if the Paris Agreement to limit global warming to 2°C is achieved, the number of users reliant on electricity infrastructure at risk of flooding would double, while a 4°C rise could triple UK flood damage. Other risks are significant, for example 5% and 20% of river catchments would be unable to meet water demand with 2°C and 4°C global warming respectively. Increased interdependence between infrastructure systems, especially from energy and information and communication technology (ICT), are amplifying risks, but adaptation action is limited by lack of clear responsibilities. A programme to build national capability is urgently required to improve infrastructure risk assessment. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Advances in risk assessment for climate change adaptation policy’.

Recommendation ITU‐R P.530‐13 provides an internationally recognized prediction model for the fading due to wet snow on low‐elevation, terrestrial microwave links. An important parameter in this model is the altitude difference between the link and the rain height. The top of rain events is usually assumed to be 360 m above the zero‐degree isotherm (ZDI). Above this height, hydrometeors are ice with low specific attenuation. Below this level, melting ice particles produce a specific attenuation up to 4 times that of the associated rain rate. A previous paper identified increasing ZDI height trends across northern Europe, North America and central Asia with slopes up to 10 m/yr. This paper examines NOAA National Centers for Environmental Prediction–National Center for Atmospheric Research Reanalysis 1 data to identify global distributions of ZDI height around mean levels that increase linearly over time. The average annual distribution of ZDI heights relative to the annual mean are calculated for each NOAA Reanalysis grid square and skew normal distributions are fitted. These are compared to models in Recommendation ITU‐R P.530‐13 and Recommendation ITU‐R 452‐14. The effects of ZDI trends and the calculated skew normal distributions are illustrated using calculated trends in fading due to wet snow for two notional 38 GHz links in Edinburgh. A slow decrease in the incidence of fading due to wet snow is predicted over most of Europe. However, some links could experience increases where warming has increased the wetness of snow.