(1)

Where base is the intensity at time zero, max is the intensity at the maximum time (60 seconds in this study) and t_0.5 is the time at which the intensity is at (base + max)/2. The rate is determined from the best fit curve to the dehydration curves.

The fraction of the intensity change that takes place in the tail end of the curve after the initial rapid rise in reflectivity (%I_fin) was calculated using equation 2.