The main motivation for this research is the growing awareness of the impact of climate change and the increasing relevance of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, aiming to contribute to the measurement of quantities like precipitation and rate of rainfall. This knowledge is widely used in hydrology, climatology and meteorology, providing data and information applied in modelling, pattern definition and recognition, and forecasting. This work is concerned with estimating the average areal rainfall in a stipulated region from rainfall intensity observations made at measurement stations within that region. It focuses on three straightforward estimation approaches: the arithmetic mean method, the Thiessen polygon method and the isohyetal method. The evaluation of the associated measurement uncertainty, for which the law of propagation of uncertainty and a Monte Carlo method as described in guidance documents from the Joint Committee for Guides in Metrology are applied, is the main consideration. The approaches described may be readily applied by practitioners. A comparison of results from applying these methods to a simple example is made. Such results are required for conformity assessment and support in urban management and water resources management worldwide.

Dimensional measurements are fundamental in microfluidic device manufacturing and performance. The main focus of this study is the measurement of the connection port sizes in microfluidic devices and components and, accordingly, the possible existence of fluid leaks determined using the flow rate error. The sizes associated with three different microfluidic systems were determined using laser interferometry and through an optical measuring instrument, with metrological traceability to national length standards. It was possible to infer the method with the greatest accuracy and lowest measurement uncertainty for characterizing this kind of system. In conclusion, the results of this work directly address the current lack of dimensions measuring methods of microfluidic components by providing a comprehensive comparison of different protocols, ultimately suggesting a preferred option for immediate application within the microfluidic industry.