14 DAY TRIAL // German investigators from the Leibniz University in Hanover propose that cars outfitted with GPS sensors could be used as relatively accurate rain gauges. They say that this would enable much more precise estimates, since vehicle travel everywhere in the world, and are not stationary like meteorological stations.
Scientists at the university say that drivers tend to adjust the speed of their windshield wipers according the amount of precipitations falling outside. If a system is developed where data on the speed of wipers is collected from each individual vehicle, and then correlated with that vehicle's position via GPS, then scientists could gain access to a basic, but vast network of tiny rain-measuring stations.
This could significantly improve the amount of data researchers can collect over any given territory or time frame. Such a system is not meant to replace standard rain gauges, but rather to provide multiple additional points of reference for meteorologists to consider.
Germany alone has more than 40 million cars. If just 5 or 10 percent of them take part in the RainCars system, then researchers could soon develop an impressively large dataset of precipitation patterns and trends over Germany. The team says that there is no reason why this approach could not be extended at a global level.