A study of performance of different types of radiosondes used over Indian sea areas during Monex- 79

Abstract

An attempt has been made to study and evaluate the compatibility of the upper air thermodynamic data recorded using different types of Radiosondes during Monex-79 from the various platforms over Indian sea areas. The observations recorded over the Arabian Sea and Bay  of Bengal areas using Russian Radiosondes from USSR research vessels, Vaisala Omegasonde from Indian Monex ships, and American dropsonde from the US research aircraft together with the Indian Radiosonde observations from coastal Indian land stations have been studied. The essential information on the sensors used in the different types of sondes is also given. The results of intercomparison between the Indian Radiosonde arid Vaisala Omegasonde data has also been presented.

This study provides an opportunity to evaluate the comparative performance of the Indian Radiosonde with that -of other established radiosonde techniques in the field of upper air sounding over land and sea areas. The performance of the temperature and humidity sensors used in the Indian radiosonde have showed a very high degree of reliability, stability and compatibility in respect of data recorded by the other established systems. The wind observations taken by the Indian sonde have also shown very close agreement with the Omega winds of Vaisala Omegasonde as brought out by the results of inter-comparison.