Most of the important developments in SWD research have occurred since the 1940's. The primary developments were a physical understanding of the nature of evaporation and dew formation, instruments for SWD measurement and models for estimation of SWD from various data sources.
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· 1814 Wells advanced the first correct theory of dew (Wallin 1963).
· 1948 Penman developed a model for the estimation of evaporation.
· 1951 Mills proposed SWD as a variable for prediction of apple scab disease (Mills and LaPlante 1951).
· 1954 Hirst developed a mechanical method for recording SWD on plant surfaces.
· 1955. Hoffman developed a physical model for dew formation and evaporation using engineering heat transfer principles.
· 1964 Zislawsky developed an electronic surface wetness recorder.
· 1978 Gillespie and Kidd published protocols on the use of sensors including painting.
· 1982 Pedro and Gillespie published a simple leaf scale energy balance model for dew formation that can be run from canopy or weather station data (Pedro and Gillespie 1982a,b).
· 1982 Thompson validated a comprehensive canopy model for the calculation of SWD.
· 1989 Mahfouf and Jacquemin described a detailed mesoscale model of rainfall interception on a canopy scale.
· 1990 WMO recognized the need for a standard for SWD measurement (Anonymous 1990).
· 1992 Muller uses forecast weather information to estimate surface wetness with an empirical model.
· 1994 Potraz et al. reported first precision data for SWD sensors.
· 1994 Truxall and Travis evaluated commercial SWD simulations using off-site weather data at one site in Pennsylvania.
· 1997 Gleason et al. evaluated
commercial SWD simulations run from off-site weather data at 18 sites
in United States and Canada.
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