Instrument : SONDE

Balloon-Borne Sounding System

Instrument Categories
Atmospheric Profiling

General Overview

Picture of the Balloon-Borne Sounding System (SONDE)

The balloon-borne sounding system (SONDE) provides in-situ measurements (vertical profiles) of both the thermodynamic state of the atmosphere, and the wind speed and direction.

Output Value-Added Products

This instrument is an input to the following value-added products, which provide improved measurements or derived quantities.

lblsonde : BBSS: derived, relative humidity scaled with LBL and MWR
lssonde : BBSS: derived, relative humidity scaled with MWR
sondewndcalc : Derived: calculated winds from the sondewrpn (Balloon-borne sounding system)

Output Datastreams

isssonde : Integrated Sounding System (ISS): meteorological data vertical profile
isssonde10s : Integrated Sounding System (ISS): meteorological data vertical profile, 10-s resolution
sonde : Balloon-borne Sounding System (BBSS): meterological data profile
sondewnpn : Balloon-borne sounding system (BBSS): Vaisala-processed winds, press., temp, &RH
sondewnpr : Balloon-borne sounding system (BBSS): Vaisala winds, research press., temp, &RH
sondewrpn : Balloon-borne sounding system (BBSS): research winds, Vaisala press., temp, &RH
sondewrpr : Balloon-borne sounding system (BBSS): research-mode winds, presssure, temp, &RH

Primary Measurements

The following measurements are those considered scientifically relevant. Refer to the datastream (netCDF) file headers for the list of all available measurements, including those recorded for diagnostic or quality assurance purposes.

Locations

North Slope Alaska (NSA)
- Central Facility, Barrow AK (C1)
Southern Great Plains (SGP)
- Central Facility, Lamont, OK (C1)
- Hillsboro, KS (Boundary) (B1)
- Lamont, OK (Extended, secondary) (E14)
- Morris, OK (Boundary) (B5)
- Purcell, OK (B6)
- Vici, OK (Boundary) (B4)
Tropical Western Pacific (TWP)
- Central Facility, Darwin, North Australia (C3)
- Central Facility, Manus I., PNG (C1)
- Central Facility, Nauru Island (C2)
ARM Mobile Facility (FKB)
- Black Forest, Germany (M1)
ARM Mobile Facility (GRW)
- Graciosa Island, Azores, Portugal (M1)
ARM Mobile Facility (HFE)
- Shouxian, Anhui, China (M1)
ARM Mobile Facility (NIM)
- Niamey, Niger (M1)
ARM Mobile Facility (PYE)
- Point Reyes, CA (M1)