Comparison of Vaisala radiosondes RS41 and RS92 at the ARM Southern Great Plains Site

Jensen, M. P.; Holdridge, D.; Survo, P.; Lehtinen, R.; Baxter, S.; Toto, T.; Johnson, K. L.

doi:10.5194/amtd-8-11323-2015

Comparison of Vaisala radiosondes RS41 and RS92 at the ARM Southern Great Plains Site

Journal Article · Mon Nov 02 00:00:00 EST 2015 · Atmospheric Measurement Techniques Discussions (Online)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.5194/amtd-8-11323-2015· OSTI ID:1228850

Jensen, M. P. ^[1]; Holdridge, D. ^[2]; Survo, P. ^[3]; Lehtinen, R. ^[3]; Baxter, S. ^[4]; Toto, T. ^[1]; Johnson, K. L. ^[1]

Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
Vaisala Oyj, Helsinki (Finland)
Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States); State Univ. of New York, Geneseo, NY (United States)

In the fall of 2013, the Vaisala RS41-SG (4th generation) radiosonde was introduced as a replacement for the RS92-SGP radiosonde with improvements in measurement accuracy of profiles of atmospheric temperature, humidity and pressure. Thus, in order to help characterize these improvements, an intercomparison campaign was undertaken at the US Department of Energy's Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Facility site in north Central Oklahoma USA. During 3–8 June 2014, a total of 20 twin-radiosonde flights were performed in a variety of atmospheric conditions representing typical midlatitude continental summertime conditions. The results suggest that the RS92 and RS41 measurements generally agree within manufacturer specified tolerances with notable exceptions when exiting liquid cloud layers where the "wet bulbing" effect is mitigated in the RS41 observations. The RS41 measurements also appear to show a smaller impact from solar heating. These results suggest that the RS41 does provide important improvements, particularly in cloudy conditions, but under most observational conditions the RS41 and RS92 measurements agree within the manufacturer specified limits and so a switch to RS41 radiosondes will have little impact on long-term observational records.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER) (SC-23)

OSTI ID:: 1228850

Report Number(s):: BNL--108582-2015-JA; KP1701000

Journal Information:: Atmospheric Measurement Techniques Discussions (Online), Journal Name: Atmospheric Measurement Techniques Discussions (Online) Journal Issue: 11 Vol. 8; ISSN 1867-8610

Publisher:: European Geosciences UnionCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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