Pielke and Chase (1) contend that the troposphere has not warmed since 1979, and that tropospheric warming cannot contribute to observed increases in tropopause height (2). They base this contention on the absence of tropospheric warming in thickness data and geopotential heights obtained from the National Center for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) reanalysis, which is a synthesis of in situ ob...

The climatology of atmospheric horizontal wind and its vertical gradient, i.e. wind-shear, is characterized as a function of climate region. For a better representation of the average atmospheric wind and shear and their variabilities, high-resolution radiosonde wind profiles up to about 30 km altitude are compared with collocated operational ECMWF-model ShortRange Forecast winds. Statistics of...

It has always been a challenge to assess the accuracy and precision of radiosonde instrumentation due to the lack of transfer standards for comparisons. One of ways for such assessment is to compare data collected from neighboring stations. The U.S. National Weather Service radiosonde station at Norman, OK is 25 km away from a research station located at Purcell, OK operated by the Atmospheric ...

[1] This study estimates the amplitude and phase of the climatological diurnal cycle of temperature, from the surface to 10 hPa. The analysis is based on four-times-daily radiosonde data from 53 stations in four regions in the Northern Hemisphere, equatorial soundings from the Tropical Ocean Global Atmosphere/Coupled Ocean Atmosphere Response Experiment, and more recent eight-times-daily radios...

During 9 March–9 April 2004, the North Slope of Alaska Arctic Winter Radiometric Experiment was conducted at the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program’s (ARM) “Great White” field site near Barrow, Alaska. The major goals of the experiment were to compare microwave and millimeter wavelength radiometers and to develop forward models in radiative transfer, all with a focus on cold (temperature...

Stratospheric turbulence is important for the mixing of trace species and the energy balance, but direct measurements are sparse due to the required resolution and accuracy. Recently, turbulence parameters such as the energy dissipation rate ε were inferred from standard radiosonde data by means of a Thorpe analysis. To this end, layers with vertically decreasing potential temperature are analy...

Regular visual observations of persistent contrails over Reading, UK, have been used to evaluate radiosonde measurements of temperature and humidity defining cold ice-supersaturated atmospheric regions which are assumed to be a necessary condition for persistent condensation trails (contrails) to form. Results show a good correlation between observations and predictions using data from Larkhill...

We present an investigation of upper tropospheric humidity profiles measured with a standard radiosonde, the Vaisala RS80-A, and a commercial frost-point hygrometer, the Snow White. Modifications to the Snow White, to enable the mirror reflectivity and Peltier cooling current to be monitored during flight, were found to be necessary to determine when the instrument was functioning correctly; a ...

The mixing layer height (MLH) is a key parameter for boundary layer studies, including meteorology, air quality, and climate. MLH estimates are inferred from in situ radiosonde measurements or remote sensing observations from instruments like lidar, wind profiling radar, or sodar. Methods used to estimate MLH from radiosonde profiles are also used with atmospheric temperature and humidity profi...

1. INTRODUCTION The Met Office UK has been progressing towards an automated upper air network for several years. In 2002, the number of radiosonde stations reporting on a regular basis has been reduced from 8 to 6, but upper air observations are now augmented by the introduction of operational observations from 4 boundary layer wind profilers operating near 1 GHz and the MST radar, Aberystwyth,...