RADIOSONDES

SAMPLING THE UPPER ATMOSPHERE

EARLY MET KITE

INCLUDED SENSORS, DATA RECORDER

METEOROGRAPH

ALSO INCLUDED SENSORS, DATA RECORDER

AIRCRAFT MET

1925 AIRCRAFT INSTRUMENTED WITH MET SENSORS/RECORDER

PILOT BALLOON

1930 PILOT BALLOON RELEASE

1936 RADIOSONDE

NEWLY DEVELOPED TRANSMITTERS ENABLED BALLOON LAUNCHES

EARLY ANTENNA

1955 NWS RADIOSONDE TRACKING ANTENNA SYSTEM

RADIOSONDE PREP

PREPARING RADIOSONDE AND BALLOON FOR LAUNCH

RADIOSONDE

TYPICAL CURRENT RADIOSONDE

BALLOON LAUNCH

RADIOSONDE LAUNCH CAPE CANAVERAL

BALLOON ALOFT

RADIOSONDE, BALLOON, AND PARACHUTE ALOFT

JIMSPHERE LAUNCH

JIMSPHERE LAUNCH CAPE CANAVERAL

MET DATA PLOT

TYPICAL PLOT OF TEMPERATURE, PRESSURE, AND HUMIDITY

WIND DATA PLOT

TYPICAL PLOT OF WIND DIRECTION COMPONENTS

TEMP. PLOT

TYPICAL PLOT OF TEMPERATURE VERSUS ALTITUDE

Temperature Versus Geometric Height

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

20

0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000

Geometric Height in Meters

Tem

per

atu

re D

eg C

HUMIDITY PLOT

TYPICAL PLOT OF HUMIDITY VERSUS ALTITUDE

Humidity Versus Geometric Height

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000 8000

Geometric Height in Meters

Re

lati

ve H

um

idit

y %

HUMIDITY PLOT

TYPICAL PLOT OF HUMIDITY VERSUS ALTITUDE

Pressure Versus Geometric Height

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900

1000

0 5000 10000 15000 20000 25000 30000 35000

Geometric Height in Meters

Pre

ssu

re h

Pa

GPS SATELLITE

GLOBAL POSITIONING SYSTEM

HOW GPS WORKS

PRECISE POSITION DETERMINED BY MEASURING THE ARRIVAL TIMES OF SIGNALS FROM AT LEAST FOUR GPS

SATELLITES

GPS ORBITS

ORBITAL PLANES OF CURRENT 24 SATELLITE GPS CONSTELLATION

XBT

EXPENDABLE BATHYTHERMOGRAPH PROBE MEASURES OCEAN

TEMPERATURES