Providing in situ long-duration dropsonde observations over remote regions

Stephen A. Cohn, Terry Hock, Philippe Cocquerez, Junhong Wang, Florence Rabier, David Parsons, Patrick Harr, Chun Chieh Wu, Philippe Drobinski, Fatima Karbou, Stéphanie Vénel, André Vargas, Nadia Fourrié, Nathalie Saint-Ramond, Vincent Guidard, Alexis Doerenbecher, Huang Hsiung Hsu, Po Hsiung Lin, Ming Dah Chou, Jean Luc RedelspergerCharlie Martin, Jack Fox, Nick Potts, Kathryn Young, Hal Cole

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

25 Scopus citations

Abstract

The driftsonde is a unique balloon-borne instrument that releases dropsondes to provide high-resolution in situ profiles of atmospheric temperature, humidity (H), pressure (P), and winds from the lower stratosphere down to the surface. It is ideal for applications over oceans and remote polar and continental regions, filling critical gaps in data coverage where the release of surface-based radiosondes is not possible. The balloon drifts with the wind and sondes are released upon command. They parachute to the ground, providing high-vertical-resolution profiles. The driftsonde system consists of the flight train, ground control software that is web based, and ground control servers and associated hardware located at NCAR in Boulder, Colorado. Web-based software adds flexibility, so that an experiment operations center can be located worldwide or it may rotate through several locations to support the continuous nature of balloon flight operations.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1661-1674
Number of pages14
JournalBulletin of the American Meteorological Society
Volume94
Issue number11
DOIs
StatePublished - Nov 2013

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