Abstract
The aerosonde can provide an economical and flexible element in international initiatives. The concept is for a small aircraft (weighing less than 20 kg) with on-board meteorological sensors to provide radiosonde-quality observations at any location on the globe. Individual missions could span several thousand kilometers and several days' duration, using the Global Positioning System for autonomous navigation, and satellite relay for data return and flight-plan updates. With a supercharged engine, the aerosonde could make soundings from sea level to 100 hPa and back in a cycle of about 4 h. Aerosondes flying such profiles in routine wide-scale use are expected to achieve a per-sounding cost competitive with that of balloon-borne radiosondes, but with much greater flexibility of operation. -Authors
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1987-1998 |
| Number of pages | 12 |
| Journal | Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society |
| Volume | 73 |
| Issue number | 12 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 1992 |