The Weather Notebook: The Sound of Rain

The Sound of Rain
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The raindrops that keep you awake at night may, when falling over the ocean, provide sonic clues about the nature of climate over two thirds of the earth. By listening to the sound of raindrops splashing on the ocean surface, like this:

Scientists from the University of Washington, NASA and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are finding how the ocean and the atmosphere mingle in the climate mix. Hi, I'm Dave Thurlow for the Mount Washington Observatory and this is The Weather Notebook.

Rainfall is a fundamental component of climate, but there's never been a good way to measure ocean rainfall, which is where most of the world's rain occurs. But Jeffrey Nysteun is a leader in the field of 'acoustical oceanography.' By placing microphones called Acoustic Rain Gauges deep underwater, Nysteun can tell the size of raindrops by the way they sound when they hit the sea surface.

JN: "We've discovered that different size raindrops make different sounds underwater, so we can actually listen for small drops and for big drops and by listening to the level of sounds, we can count the number of raindrops present and that allows us to actually measure rainfall rate using the underwater sound."

Nyston's work takes place in the Pacific in conjunction with similar experimentation around the globe. He believes his observations can help meteorologists, oceanographers, and climatologists better understand the distribution and intensity of this mysterious component of global climate.

For more information, please visit our website at weathernotebook.org. Our show is produced by Bryan Sejvar for the Mount Washington Observatory in North Conway New Hampshire. Thanks go to Subaru, the beauty of all wheel drive.