Identification

Title

Altitude misestimation caused by the Vaisala RS80 pressure bias and its impact on meteorological profiles

Abstract

Previous research has found that conventional radiosondes equipped with a traditional pressure sensor can be subject to a pressure bias, particularly in the stratosphere. This study examines this pressure bias and the resulting altitude misestimation, and its impact on temperature, ozone, and water vapor profiles is considered using data obtained between December 2003 and January 2010 during the Soundings of Ozone and Water in the Equatorial Region (SOWER) campaigns. The payload consisted of a radiosonde (Vaisala RS80), ozone and water vapor sondes, and a global positioning system (GPS) sensor. More than 30 soundings are used in this study. As GPS height data are thought to be highly accurate, they can be used to calculate pressure. The RS80 pressure bias in the tropical stratosphere is estimated to be −0.4 ± 0.2 hPa (1σ) between 20 and 30 km. As this pressure bias is negative throughout the stratosphere, it leads to systematic overestimation of geopotential height by 43 ± 23, 110 ± 40, and 240 ± 92 m (1σ) at 20, 25, and 30 km, respectively when it is calculated by using the hypsometric equation. Because of the altitude overestimation, we see some offsets in observation parameters having a vertical gradient such as temperature, ozone, and water vapor. Those offsets in the meteorological soundings obtained using the RS80 may have generated an artificial trend in the meteorological records when radiosondes were changed from the RS80, which had no GPS unit, to the new ones with a GPS unit. Therefore, it is important to take those offsets into account in climate change studies.

Resource type

document

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

https://n2t.org/ark:/85065/d7dj5h48

codeSpace

Dataset language

eng

Spatial reference system

code identifying the spatial reference system

Classification of spatial data and services

Topic category

geoscientificInformation

Keywords

Keyword set

keyword value

Text

originating controlled vocabulary

title

Resource Type

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2016-01-01T00:00:00Z

Geographic location

West bounding longitude

East bounding longitude

North bounding latitude

South bounding latitude

Temporal reference

Temporal extent

Begin position

End position

Dataset reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2015-10-02T00:00:00Z

Frequency of update

Quality and validity

Lineage

Conformity

Data format

name of format

version of format

Constraints related to access and use

Constraint set

Use constraints

Limitations on public access

None

Responsible organisations

Responsible party

contact position

OpenSky Support

organisation name

UCAR/NCAR - Library

full postal address

PO Box 3000

Boulder

80307-3000

email address

opensky@ucar.edu

web address

http://opensky.ucar.edu/

name: homepage

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata on metadata

Metadata point of contact