PRIN 2015 - Reconciling precipitation with runoff: The role of understated measurement biases in the modelling of hydrological processes

Inaccurate precipitation measurements have been recently recognised as the "wilfully neglected Achille's heel" of hydro-meteorological sciences. Difficulties in achieving accurate measurements arise from various instrumental and environmental sources of systematic biases, resulting in a significant underestimation of the precipitation depth and intensity. The understated extent of the associated biases is largely unknown and varies with various environmental factors, due to the complexity of the controlling processes. Although attempts were made to standardise measurement procedures, this has never been successfully achieved.