What is a weather sonde?
A radiosonde whose position is tracked as it ascends to give wind speed and direction information is called a rawinsonde (“radar wind -sonde”). Most radiosondes have radar reflectors and are technically rawinsondes.
What is the purpose of the radiosonde?
Radiosondes are battery-powered telemetry instrument packages that are carried into the atmosphere typically by a weather balloon; they measure altitude, pressure, temperature, relative humidity, wind (both speed and direction), and cosmic ray readings at high altitudes.
How do I get radiosonde?
Radiosonde signals typically get good radio reception with any antenna tuned to 403 MHz as they transmit from high in the sky where there are no obstructions. Some antennas to try are 1/4 ground plane antennas, J-Pole antennas and collinear antennas. Discone antennas may also work well.
What is the cost of 1 radiosonde?
Each individual radiosonde costs about $200. The cost of establishing a radiosonde ground station makes it difficult to increase the spatial extent of the radiosonde network, which is particularly deficient in vast regions of the Southern Hemisphere.
Are radiosondes still used?
Radiosondes provide a primary source of upper-air data and will remain so into the foreseeable future.
How much does a radiosonde cost?
Who uses a radiosonde?
the NOAA National Weather Service (NWS)
Since the late 1930s, the NOAA National Weather Service (NWS) has taken upper air observations with radiosondes. The radiosonde is a small, expendable instrument package (weighs 250 to 500 grams) that is suspended below a large balloon inflated with hydrogen or helium gas.
How many radiosonde sites are in the US?
92 Radiosonde stations
Upper-air Program staff oversee the operation of 92 Radiosonde stations in North America and the Pacific Islands. It also supports the operation of 10 stations in the Caribbean. Radiosondes provide upper-air data that are essential for weather forecasts and research.
What are the disadvantages of radiosondes?
The radiosonde data, while having the advantage of being a direct measurement of temperature, have two major disadvantages. First, most of the radiosonde stations are located in northern hemisphere land areas, leaving large regions of the world’s oceans and the southern hemisphere essentially unmonitored.
How does a radiosonde measure temperature?
As the radiosonde rises at about 1,000 feet/minute (300 meters/minute), sensors on the radiosonde measure profiles of pressure, temperature, and relative humidity. These sensors are linked to a battery powered transmitter that sends the measurements to a ground receiver.
What is the difference between a radiosonde and a rawinsonde?
A radiosonde observation provides only pressure, temperature, and relative humidity data. When a radiosonde is tracked so that winds aloft are provided in addition to the pressure, temperature, and relative humidity data, it is called a rawinsonde observation.