Radiosonde system

IMK-TRO operates two mobile radiosonde stations to investigate in situ the vertical structure of the atmosphere from surface level up to the lower stratosphere. Currently Ground stations of type GS-E from GRAW Radiosondes GmbH http://www.graw.de http://radiosondes.com are used togegher with  DFM-09 radiosondes. They performed very well during the last WMO intercomparison of high quality radiosonde systems 2010 https://www.wmo.int/pages/prog/www/IMOP/publications/IOM-107_Yangjiang.pdf

At an average ascent rate of 5 m s-1 the radiosondes reaches peak heights of 19 km delivering a full data set of temperature, humidity and wind information every 6 m. For most measurement campaigns the radiosonde profiles are uploaded into the GTS system and assimilated into weather forecast models.

Application examples

Fig. 1: Temporal evolution of wind profiles in the lower in the lower troposphere on 16 August 2014 near Masada, Israel. Ascent frequency 2 h

 

 

Fig. 2: Interpolated temporal evolution of specific humidity in the lower troposphere on 16 August 2014 near Masada, Israel. Ascent frequency 2 h


Technical Data (manufacturer information)
Groundstation GS-E (Receiver)
Type: DDS-based dual-conversion superheterodyne with software-defined las IF stage and demodulator
Frequency range: 400 MHz - 406 MHz
Tunig steps: 20 kHz
GPS  
Channels: 20
Connections  
400MHz antenna: 2
GPS antenna: 1
GPS repeater: 1
USB connection to PC: 1
USB connection to radiosonde: 1
PC Requirements  
Operationg system: Windows Vista/Windows 7/Windows 10
Interface: USB
Power supply  
AC: 110 V/AC to 250 V/AC
DC: 10 V/DC to 32 V/DC
Dimensions  
Size: 320 mm x 190 mm x 90 mm
Weight: 3300 g

http://www.graw.de/home/products2/groundstationequipment00/groundstationgs-e/


Radiosonde DFM-09
Weight: < 90 g, ready to start
Size: 200 mm x 42 mm x 60 mm
Battery: Dry Lithium
Activation: Switch
Wind finding: Differential GPS (20 channels)
Transmission-rate: One full data set per second
Bandwith: < 20 kHz
Frequency deviation: +/- 3 kHz
Modulation: FSK
Error correction telemetry: Code-spreading, interleaving
Temperature resolution: 0.1 °C
Temperature accuracy: < 0.2 °C
Humidity resolution: 1 % rH
Humidity accuracy: < 5 % rH
Pressure accuracy: < 0.3 hPa
Geopotential height accuracy: < 10 m
Wind speed accuracy: < 0.2 m/s
Accuracy horizontal position: < 5 m

http://www.graw.de/home/products2/radiosondes0/radiosondedfm-090/