Intercomparison between Temperature and Humidity Sensors of Radiosonde by Different Manufacturers in the ESSAY (Experiment on Snow Storms At Yeongdong) Campaign

Radiosonde is an observation equipment that measures pressure (geopotential height), temperature, relative humidity and wind by being launched up from the ground. Radiosonde data which serves as an important element of weather forecast and research often causes a bias in a model output due to accuracy and sensitivity between the different manufacturers. Although Korean Meteorological Administration (KMA) and several institutes have conducted routine and intensive radiosonde observations, very few studies have been done before on the characteristics of radiosonde performance. Analyzing radiosonde observation data without proper understanding of the unique nature of those sensors may lead to a significant bias in the analysis of results. To evaluate performance and reliability of radiosonde, we analyzed the differences between two sensors made by the different manufacturers, which have been used in the campaign of Experiment on Snow Storm At Yeongdong (ESSAY). We improved a couple of methods to launch the balloon being attached with the sensors. Further we examined cloud-layer impacts on temperature and humidity differences for the analysis of both sensors' performance among various weather conditions, and also compared daytime and nighttime profiles to understand temporal dependence of meteorological sensors. The overall results showed that there are small but consistent biases in both temperature and humidity between different manufactured sensors, which could eventually secure reliable precisions of both sensors, irrespective of accuracy. This study would contribute to an improved sounding of atmospheric vertical states through development and improvement of the meteorological sensors.

대설관측실험(Experiment on Snow Storms At Yeongdong: ESSAY) 기간 중 두 제조사 라디오존데 기온과 습도 센서 상호 비교