Table 1.

Physical characteristics for three different conditions of experimentally generated precipitation. Data are shown as mean ± s.e. (sample size n).

variable	light rain	moderate rain	heavy rain
intensity, Hw (mm 5 min−1)	6.4 ± 0.01 (5)	14.9 ± 0.56 (5)	22.4 ± 0.26 (5)
drop diameter, ddrop (mm)	0.59 ± 0.03 (30)	0.55 ± 0.03 (30)	1.52 ± 0.01 (30)
drop speed, Udrop (m s−1)	1.82 ± 0.57 (30)	1.88 ± 0.72 (30)	2.1 ± 0.59 (30)
drops per second, ndropsa	51	150	11
Fsd (mN)b	1.2	1.1	10.6
energy flux, Ek (J m−2 h−1)c	125	318	599
Weber number, Wed	27	27	93

^aCalculated as (3/2)(H_wd_cyl²/d_drop³)/300.

^bSee text for calculation.

^cCalculated as 1200n_drops ρ_w(d_drop)³U_drop²/d_cyl².

^dCalculated as ρ_wU²_dropd_drop/σ, where σ is the surface tension.