radiosonde

an airborne instrument to send meteorological information back to earth by radio

Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

radiosonde

[′rād·ē·ō‚sänd]

(engineering)

A balloon-borne instrument for the simultaneous measurement and transmission of meteorological data; the instrument consists of transducers for the measurement of pressure, temperature, and humidity, a modulator for the conversion of the output of the transducers to a quantity which controls a property of the radio-frequency signal, a selector switch which determines the sequence in which the parameters are to be transmitted, and a transmitter which generates the radio-frequency carrier.

radiosonde

A radio transmitter used in conjunction with a balloon. It transmits data on temperature, pressure, and humidity. A radiosonde balloon can attain a height of approximately 65,000 ft (20 km) with small balloons and 115,000 ft (34 km) with large balloons. This balloon is tracked by radar to calculate upper winds. See radarsonde.

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Radiosonde

an aerological instrument that measures the pressure, temperature, and humidity of the air; the values of these meteorological components are then automatically transmitted to earth by radio from various altitudes during the ascent through the atmosphere.

A radiosonde consists of sensing elements, transducers that convert the small changes of the sensing elements into electric values, coding apparatus, and a lightweight shortwave radio transmitter. The radiosonde is lifted by a pilot balloon to an altitude of 30 to 40 km. During the ascent, the radiosonde automatically sends coded signals corresponding to the instrument readings, and the signals are picked up by a radio receiver at the launching site. The operating range is approximately 150 to 200 km. There are balloon-borne radiosondes that can also measure wind velocity and direction.

Radiosondes are used extensively for vertical atmospheric sounding. The first radiosonde was constructed by the Soviet scientist P. A. Molchanov in 1930.

Mentioned in

References in periodicals archive

ARTSE2017 deployed three radiosonde systems and surface sensors around Fort Laramie.

MEASURING ARTSE2017: Results from Wyoming and New York

Currently, meteorological observations are conducted by radiosonde, a weather instrument that records meteorological data, typically released into the atmosphere with a weather balloon.

Arctic observations may help in predicting tropical cyclones

Caption: LEFT: Below the weather balloon is the radiosonde (bottom) and parachute to return the radiosonde to earth after the balloon bursts.

SKEW-T LOG-P DIAGRAMS

ON the purchase of the radiosonde transmitters with free meteorological balloons, state auditors said that while PAGASA could buy up to one year's supply of weather balloons, the deliveries and payments should be staggered and the inventory would not exceed the 3-month limit at any time during the period.

COA auditors scold PAGASA for P700-M projects with open ended completion

Meanwhile, the PWV datasets from 45 radiosonde stations in North China are used to analyze the annual and seasonal trends during three different periods (1979-1999, 1979-2007, and 2008-2015) associated with the latest humidity sensors changes that have been taking place in China since about 2007 [35,36].

Trends and Variability in Precipitable Water Vapor throughout North China from 1979 to 2015

Upper air data was also recorded from this site from the daily release of radiosondes (weather balloons) which take wind speed and direction measurements (along with other weather parameters).

St Helena: a meteorological viewpoint: Claire Bartholomew, applied scientist at the met office, explains how meteorological observation requirements were assessed for the soon-to-open St Helena Airport

The uncertainty in radiosonde estimated PW depends on the type of the sonde.

Column water vapour: an intertechnique comparison of estimation methods in Estonia/Ohusamba niiskussisaldus: maaramisviiside vordlus Eesti andmetel

Generally, historical radiosonde data from certain locations are employed in the calculation of retrieval coefficients by various methods.

A dual-frequency method of eliminating liquid water radiation to remotely sense cloudy atmosphere by ground-based microwave radiometer

The refractivity gradient is estimated from the radiosonde data obtained from South Africa Weather Service (SAWS).

Statistical estimation of fade depth and outage probability due to multipath propagation in Southern Africa

Guo and Ding [12] analyze the change trend of high atmosphere temperature in China from 1958 to 2005 using the radiosonde sounding data of China's 116 sounding stations and find that the high atmosphere temperature below 400 hPa standard barosphere showed a significant upward trend with the amplitude particularly prominent in the high-altitude areas.

Air temperature change in the Southern Tarim River Basin, China, 1964-2011

Radiosonde measurements in Estonia and Finland are treated by Sirje Keevallik and Miina Krabbi, showing their invaluable role during the periods of volcanic eruptions when meteorological observations from airplanes are impossible.

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