Articles | Volume 15, issue 1
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-165-2022
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-165-2022
Research article
 | 
11 Jan 2022
Research article |  | 11 Jan 2022

On the quality of RS41 radiosonde descent data

Bruce Ingleby, Martin Motl, Graeme Marlton, David Edwards, Michael Sommer, Christoph von Rohden, Holger Vömel, and Hannu Jauhiainen

Data sets

Radiosonde descent data September-November 2019 B. Ingleby https://doi.org/10.5676/GRUAN/dpkg-2021-2

Model code and software

NCEPLIBS-buf NCEP/EMC Developers https://github.com/NOAA-EMC/NCEPLIBS-bufr

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Short summary
Radiosonde descent data could provide extra profiles of the atmosphere for forecasting and other uses. Descent data from Vaisala RS41 radiosondes have been compared with the ascent profiles and with ECMWF short-range forecasts. The agreement is mostly good. The descent rate is very variable and high descent rates cause temperature biases, especially at upper levels. Ascent winds are affected by pendulum motion; on average, the descent winds are smoother.