Radiosonde
A radiosonde is a battery-powered
Radiosondes may operate at a
History
The first flights of aerological instruments were done in the second half of the 19th century with kites and meteographs, a recording device measuring pressure and temperature that was recuperated after the experiment. This proved to be difficult because the kites were linked to the ground and were very difficult to manoeuvre in gusty conditions. Furthermore, the sounding was limited to low altitudes because of the link to the ground.
In 1924, Colonel William Blaire in the
Working with a modified Molchanov sonde, Sergey Vernov was the first to use radiosondes to perform cosmic ray readings at high altitude. On April 1, 1935, he took measurements up to 13.6 km (8.5 mi) using a pair of Geiger counters in an anti-coincidence circuit to avoid counting secondary ray showers.[6][7] This became an important technique in the field, and Vernov flew his radiosondes on land and sea over the next few years, measuring the radiation's latitude dependence caused by the Earth's magnetic field.
In 1936, the U.S. Navy assigned the
In 1938, Diamond developed the first ground receiver for the radiosonde, which prompted the first service use of the NBS radiosondes in the Navy. Then in 1939, Diamond and his colleagues developed a ground-based radiosonde called the “remote weather station,” which allowed them to automatically collect weather data in remote and inhospitable locations.[11] By 1940, the NBS radiosonde system included a pressure drive, which measured temperature and humidity as functions of pressure.[8] It also gathered data on cloud thickness and light intensity in the atmosphere.[12] Due to this and other improvements in cost (about $25), weight (> 1 kilogram), and accuracy, hundreds of thousands of NBS-style radiosondes were produced nationwide for research purposes, and the apparatus was officially adopted by the U.S. Weather Bureau.[8][10]
Diamond was given the Washington Academy of Sciences Engineering Award in 1940 and the IRE Fellow Award (which was later renamed the Harry Diamond Memorial Award) in 1943 for his contributions to radio-meteorology.[11][13]
The expansion of economically important government weather forecasting services during the 1930s and their increasing need for data motivated many nations to begin regular radiosonde observation programs
In 1985, as part of the Soviet Union's Vega program, the two Venus probes, Vega 1 and Vega 2, each dropped a radiosonde into the atmosphere of Venus. The sondes were tracked for two days.
Although modern remote sensing by satellites, aircraft and ground sensors is an increasing source of atmospheric data, none of these systems can match the vertical resolution (30 m (98 ft) or less) and altitude coverage (30 km (19 mi)) of radiosonde observations, so they remain essential to modern meteorology.[2]
Although hundreds of radiosondes are launched worldwide each day year-round, fatalities attributed to radiosondes are rare. The first known example was the electrocution of a lineman in the United States who was attempting to free a radiosonde from high-tension power lines in 1943.
Operation
A
The modern radiosonde communicates via radio with a computer that stores all the variables in real time. The first radiosondes were observed from the ground with a
Sometimes radiosondes are deployed by being dropped from an aircraft instead of being carried aloft by a balloon. Radiosondes deployed in this way are called dropsondes.
Routine radiosonde launches
Radiosondes weather balloons have conventionally been used as means of measuring atmospheric profiles of humidity, temperature, pressure, wind speed and direction.[17] High-quality, spatially and temporally “continuous” data from upper-air monitoring along with surface observations are critical bases for understanding weather conditions and climate trends and providing weather and climate information for the welfare of societies. Reliable and timely information underpin society’s preparedness to extreme weather conditions and to changing climate patterns.[17]
Worldwide, there are about 1,300 radiosonde launch sites.[18] Most countries share data with the rest of the world through international agreements. Nearly all routine radiosonde launches occur one hour before the official observation times of 0000 UTC and 1200 UTC to center the observation times during the roughly two-hour ascent.[19][20] Radiosonde observations are important for weather forecasting, severe weather watches and warnings, and atmospheric research.
The United States National Weather Service launches radiosondes twice daily from 92 stations, 69 in the conterminous United States, 13 in Alaska, nine in the Pacific, and one in Puerto Rico. It also supports the operation of 10 radiosonde sites in the Caribbean.[20] A list of U.S. operated land based launch sites can be found in Appendix C, U.S. Land-based Rawinsonde Stations[21] of the Federal Meteorological Handbook #3,[22] titled Rawinsonde and Pibal Observations, dated May 1997.
The
four times daily (an hour before 00, 06, 12, and 18 UTC) from 6 launch sites (south to north): Camborne, (lat,lon)=(50.218, -5.327), SW tip of England; Herstmonceux (50.89, 0.318), near SE coast; Watnall, (53.005, -1.25), central England; Castor Bay, (54.50, -6.34), near the SE corner of Lough Neagh in Northern Ireland; Albemarle, (55.02, -1.88), NE England; and Lerwick, (60.139, -1.183), Shetland, Scotland. [24] [25]Uses of upper air observations
Raw upper air data is routinely processed by supercomputers running numerical models. Forecasters often view the data in a graphical format, plotted on thermodynamic diagrams such as Skew-T log-P diagrams, Tephigrams, and or Stüve diagrams, all useful for the interpretation of the atmosphere's vertical thermodynamics profile of temperature and moisture as well as kinematics of vertical wind profile.[17]
Radiosonde data is a crucially important component of numerical weather prediction. Because a sonde may drift several hundred kilometers during the 90- to 120-minute flight, there may be concern that this could introduce problems into the model initialization. [17] However, this appears not to be so except perhaps locally in jet stream regions in the stratosphere.[26] This issue may in future be solved by weather drones, which have precise control over their location and can compensate for drift.[27]
Lamentably, in less developed parts of the globe such as Africa, which has high vulnerability to impacts of extreme weather events and climate change, there is paucity of surface- and upper-air observations. The alarming state of the issue was highlighted in 2020 by the
International regulation
According to the
A radiosonde is an automatic
meteorological aids service usually carried on an aircraft, free balloon, kite or parachute, and which transmits meteorological data. Each radio transmitter shall be classified by the radiocommunication service in which it operates permanently or temporarily.
Frequency allocation
The allocation of radio frequencies is provided according to Article 5 of the ITU Radio Regulations (edition 2012).[32]
In order to improve harmonisation in spectrum utilisation, the majority of service-allocations stipulated in this document were incorporated in national Tables of Frequency Allocations and Utilisations which is with-in the responsibility of the appropriate national administration. The allocation might be primary, secondary, exclusive, and shared.
- primary allocation: is indicated by writing in capital letters (see example below)
- secondary allocation: is indicated by small letters
- exclusive or shared utilization: is within the responsibility of administrations
However, military usage, in bands where there is civil usage, will be in accordance with the ITU Radio Regulations.
- Example of frequency allocation
Allocation to services | ||
Region 1 |
Region 2 | Region 3 |
401-402 MHz METEOROLOGICAL AIDS
|
See also
- 6AK5
- Aerography (meteorology)
- Atmospheric model
- Atmospheric thermodynamics
- CTD (instrument)
- Global horizontal sounding technique
- Rocketsonde
- Totex - a Japanese manufacturer of meteorological balloons
- Vaisala
- Vilho Väisälä
- Water-activated battery
- Cricketsonde
References
- ^ Karin L. Gleason (March 20, 2008). "Ozonesonde". noaa.gov. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Retrieved 2011-07-04.
- ^ a b "Frequently asked questions about NWS observation program". Upper-air observation program. US National Weather Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Archived from the original on 2014-10-09.
- ^ "Rawinsonde". Encyclopædia Britannica online. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc. 2014. Retrieved June 15, 2014.
- ^ a b "Radiosondage". Découvrir : Mesurer l’atmosphère (in French). Météo-France. Archived from the original on 2006-12-07. Retrieved 2008-06-30.
- ^ "Bureau (Robert)". La météo de A à Z > Définition (in French). Météo-France. Archived from the original on 2007-10-29. Retrieved 2008-06-30.
- ^ a b DuBois, Multhauf and Ziegler, "The Invention and Development of the Radiosonde", Smithsonian Studies in History and Technology, No. 53, 2002.
- ^ Vernoff, S. "Radio-Transmission of Cosmic Ray Data from the Stratosphere", Nature, June 29, 1935.
- ^ a b c d DuBois, John; Multhauf, Robert; Ziegler, Charles (2002). "The Invention and Development of the Radiosonde, with a Catalog of Upper-Atmospheric Telemetering Probes in the National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution" (PDF). Smithsonian Institution Press. Retrieved July 13, 2018.
- .
- ^ .
- ^ ISBN 978-0-8493-1247-2.
- ^ "NBS radio meteorographs :: Historic Photographs Collection". nistdigitalarchives.contentdm.oclc.org. Retrieved 2018-07-13.
- ^ "Harry Diamond Memorial Award - Past Recipients - IEEE-USA". ieeeusa.org. Archived from the original on 2018-07-13. Retrieved 2018-07-13.
- ^ "Linemen Cautioned About Disengaging Radiosonde," Electrical World, 15 May 1943
- ^ "1943-radiosonde-fatality.JPG (758x1280 pixels)". Archived from the original on 8 February 2013.
- ^ Dian J. Gaffen. Radiosonde Observations and Their Use in SPARC-Related Investigations. Archived June 7, 2007, at the Wayback Machine Retrieved on 2008-05-25.
- ^ license.
- ^ WMO Global Observing SystemUpper-air observations. Retrieved February 19, 2017.
- ^ Weather Balloons! Retrieved 1 January 2023.
- ^ a b Radiosondes Retrieved 1 January 2023.
- ^ U.S. Land-based Rawinsode Stations Archived March 3, 2016, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Federal Meteorological Handbook #3". Ofcm.gov. Archived from the original on 2013-12-22. Retrieved 2013-09-15.
- ^ Did You Know? We’re testing new weather balloons: from Cornwall to Antarctica! Retrieved 1 January 2023.
- ^ Protecting our observing capability Retrieved 1 January 2023.
- ^ Synoptic and climate stations Retrieved 1 January 2023.
- .
- ISSN 1867-1381.
- ^ "The gaps in the Global Basic Observing Network (GBON)".
- ^ "How plugging data gaps will transform our response to climate change". South China Morning Post. 31 October 2021.
- ^ ITU Radio Regulations, Section IV. Radio Stations and Systems – Article 1.50, definition: meteorological aids service / meteorological aids radiocommunication service
- ^ ITU Radio Regulations, Section IV. Radio Stations and Systems – Article 1.109, definition: radiosonde
- ^ ITU Radio Regulations, CHAPTER II – Frequencies, ARTICLE 5 Frequency allocations, Section IV – Table of Frequency Allocations
External links
- Upper air data for the world - past and present
- WMO spreadsheet of all Upper Air stations around the world
- Interpreting radiosonde data Tephigrams and Skew-T log P diagrams.
- Radiosonde Museum of North America
- Radiosonde Sounding System at webmet.com
- NOAA National Weather Service Radiosonde Factsheet
- Sergei Nikolaevich Vernov
- SCR-658 pics
- early pics
- Photo - Early Type Radiosonde
- Photo - Radiosonde, Transistor Type