Preface [to the special section on Space‐Time Variability and Dynamics of Rainfall]

The Fifth International Conference on Precipitation entitled "Space-Time Variability and Dynamics of Rainfall" was held in Elounda, Crete, Greece, June 14-16, 1995. The central theme of the conference was research issues related to the problem of linking stochastic and dynamic descriptions of rainfall for the purpose of modeling, estimation, and forecasting over a large range of scales. In particular, emphasis was placed on the following topics: (1) rainfall dynamics, (2) space-time variability and statistical characterization, (3) linkages between dynamic and stochastic descriptions, and (4) applications of physical and/or statistical theories in the development of rainfall estimation algorithms. Following the tradition of the previous four conferences (Caracas, Venezuela, 1986; Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1988; Texas Ai•M University, 1991; University of Iowa, 1993), this meeting aimed at fostering interdisciplinary interaction among meteorologists, hydrologists, mathematicians, and statisticians having common interest in basic and applied rainfall research. This issue of the Journal of Geophysical Research (Atmospheres) contains 31 papers presented at the conference. These papers are grouped under five broad topics, namely, dynamical modeling of rainfall, rainfall relationships to atmospheric conditions, statistical analysis of rainfall structures, stochastic and scaling theories of rainfall, and remote sensing rainfall estimation.