Thiessen

Thiessen is a surname of German origin. In addition, it is associated with a method in meteorology and climatology known as the Thiessen polygons or the Thiessen method. The polygons are also called Voronoi polygons in mathematics.

The Thiessen polygons partition a region into adjacent polygons around a set of points (often weather stations or rain gauges) such that every location within a polygon is closest to the corresponding point. As a result, each polygon is assigned to one station, and the value measured at that station is attributed to all points within the polygon. In climatology, this method is used to estimate areal precipitation and to compute representatives for gridded data from sparse gauge networks.

The approach was developed by Alfred H. Thiessen, an American meteorologist, in the early 20th century. The concept aligns with Voronoi tessellations, a more general mathematical construction, but the Thiessen designation is customary in meteorology and hydrology.

Aside from the method, Thiessen is also a surname used by various individuals in science, arts, and public life.