Articles | Volume 18, issue 13
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-3161-2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-3161-2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
15 Jul 2025
Research article |
| 15 Jul 2025
| 15 Jul 2025
A new versatile dropsonde for atmospheric soundings – the KITsonde
Christoph Kottmeier
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research Troposphere Research (IMKTRO), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Karlsruhe, Germany
Andreas Wieser
Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research Troposphere Research (IMKTRO), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Karlsruhe, Germany
Ulrich Corsmeier
Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research Troposphere Research (IMKTRO), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Karlsruhe, Germany
Norbert Kalthoff
Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research Troposphere Research (IMKTRO), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Karlsruhe, Germany
Philipp Gasch
Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research Troposphere Research (IMKTRO), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Karlsruhe, Germany
Bastian Kirsch
Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research Troposphere Research (IMKTRO), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Karlsruhe, Germany
Dörthe Ebert
German Weather Service, Offenbach, Germany
Zbigniew Ulanowski
British Antarctic Survey, Cambridge, United Kingdom
University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom
Dieter Schell
enviscope GmbH, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Harald Franke
enviscope GmbH, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Florian Schmidmer
Graw Radiosondes GmbH & Co. KG, Nuremberg, Germany
Johannes Frielingsdorf
Graw Radiosondes GmbH & Co. KG, Nuremberg, Germany
Thomas Feuerle
Technische Universität Braunschweig, Institut für Flugführung, Braunschweig, Germany
Rudolf Hankers
Technische Universität Braunschweig, Institut für Flugführung, Braunschweig, Germany
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Hannah Meyer, Konrad Kandler, Sylvain Dupont, Jerónimo Escribano, Jessica Girdwood, George Nikolich, Andrés Alastuey, Vicken Etyemezian, Cristina González Flórez, Adolfo González-Romero, Tareq Hussein, Mark Irvine, Peter Knippertz, Ottmar Möhler, Xavier Querol, Chris Stopford, Franziska Vogel, Frederik Weis, Andreas Wieser, Carlos Pérez García-Pando, and Martina Klose
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1531, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1531, 2025
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Mineral dust particles emitted from dry soils are of various sizes, yet the abundance of very large particles is not well understood. Here we measured the dust size distribution from fine to giant particles at an emission source during a field campaign in Jordan (J-WADI) using multiple instruments. Our findings show that large particles make up a significant part of the total dust mass. This knowledge is essential to improve climate models and to predict dust impacts on climate and environment.
Anselm Erdmann and Philipp Gasch
Geosci. Model Dev. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-2024-222, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-2024-222, 2024
Preprint under review for GMD
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A new software for the calculation of quality controlled wind profiles from heterogeneous Doppler lidar measurements is presented. The processing is designed modularly. A provided standard processing chain is validated using radiosondes for three common Doppler lidar types at different locations.
Nevio Babić, Bianca Adler, Alexander Gohm, Manuela Lehner, and Norbert Kalthoff
Weather Clim. Dynam., 5, 609–631, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-5-609-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-5-609-2024, 2024
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Day-to-day weather over mountains remains a significant challenge in the domain of weather forecast. Using a combination of measurements from several instrument platforms, including Doppler lidars, aircraft, and radiosondes, we developed a method that relies primarily on turbulence characteristics of the lowest layers of the atmosphere. As a result, we identified new ways in which atmosphere behaves over mountains during daytime, which may serve to further improve forecasting capabilities.
Volker Wulfmeyer, Christoph Senff, Florian Späth, Andreas Behrendt, Diego Lange, Robert M. Banta, W. Alan Brewer, Andreas Wieser, and David D. Turner
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 1175–1196, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1175-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1175-2024, 2024
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A simultaneous deployment of Doppler, temperature, and water-vapor lidar systems is used to provide profiles of molecular destruction rates and turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) dissipation in the convective boundary layer (CBL). The results can be used for the parameterization of turbulent variables, TKE budget analyses, and the verification of weather forecast and climate models.
Philipp Gasch, James Kasic, Oliver Maas, and Zhien Wang
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 5495–5523, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5495-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5495-2023, 2023
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This paper rethinks airborne wind measurements and investigates a new design for airborne Doppler lidar systems. Recent advances in lidar technology allow the use of multiple lidar systems with fixed viewing directions instead of a single lidar attached to a scanner. Our simulation results show that the proposed new design offers great potential for both higher accuracy and higher-resolution airborne wind measurements.
Vasiliki Daskalopoulou, Panagiotis I. Raptis, Alexandra Tsekeri, Vassilis Amiridis, Stelios Kazadzis, Zbigniew Ulanowski, Vassilis Charmandaris, Konstantinos Tassis, and William Martin
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 4529–4550, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4529-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4529-2023, 2023
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Atmospheric dust particles may present a preferential alignment due to their shape on long range transport. Since dust is abundant and plays a key role to global climate, the elusive observation of orientation will be a game changer to existing measurement techniques and the representation of particles in climate models. We utilize a specifically designed instrument, SolPol, and target the Sun from the ground for large polarization values under dusty conditions, a clear sign of orientation.
Bastian Kirsch, Cathy Hohenegger, Daniel Klocke, Rainer Senke, Michael Offermann, and Felix Ament
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 14, 3531–3548, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-3531-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-3531-2022, 2022
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Conventional observation networks are too coarse to resolve the horizontal structure of kilometer-scale atmospheric processes. We present the FESST@HH field experiment that took place in Hamburg (Germany) during summer 2020 and featured a dense network of 103 custom-built, low-cost weather stations. The data set is capable of providing new insights into the structure of convective cold pools and the nocturnal urban heat island and variations of local temperature fluctuations.
Andreas Wieser, Andreas Güntner, Peter Dietrich, Jan Handwerker, Dina Khordakova, Uta Ködel, Martin Kohler, Hannes Mollenhauer, Bernhard Mühr, Erik Nixdorf, Marvin Reich, Christian Rolf, Martin Schrön, Claudia Schütze, and Ute Weber
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-2022-131, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-2022-131, 2022
Preprint withdrawn
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We present an event-triggered observation concept which covers the entire process chain from heavy precipitation to flooding at the catchment scale. It combines flexible and mobile observing systems out of the fields of meteorology, hydrology and geophysics with stationary networks to capture atmospheric transport processes, heterogeneous precipitation patterns, land surface and subsurface storage processes, and runoff dynamics.
Adrien Deroubaix, Laurent Menut, Cyrille Flamant, Peter Knippertz, Andreas H. Fink, Anneke Batenburg, Joel Brito, Cyrielle Denjean, Cheikh Dione, Régis Dupuy, Valerian Hahn, Norbert Kalthoff, Fabienne Lohou, Alfons Schwarzenboeck, Guillaume Siour, Paolo Tuccella, and Christiane Voigt
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 3251–3273, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-3251-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-3251-2022, 2022
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During the summer monsoon in West Africa, pollutants emitted in urbanized areas modify cloud cover and precipitation patterns. We analyze these patterns with the WRF-CHIMERE model, integrating the effects of aerosols on meteorology, based on the numerous observations provided by the Dynamics-Aerosol-Climate-Interactions campaign. This study adds evidence to recent findings that increased pollution levels in West Africa delay the breakup time of low-level clouds and reduce precipitation.
Dina Khordakova, Christian Rolf, Jens-Uwe Grooß, Rolf Müller, Paul Konopka, Andreas Wieser, Martina Krämer, and Martin Riese
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 1059–1079, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-1059-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-1059-2022, 2022
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Extreme storms transport humidity from the troposphere to the stratosphere. Here it has a strong impact on the climate. With ongoing global warming, we expect more storms and, hence, an enhancement of this effect. A case study was performed in order to measure the impact of the direct injection of water vapor into the lower stratosphere. The measurements displayed a significant transport of water vapor into the lower stratosphere, and this was supported by satellite and reanalysis data.
Maria Kezoudi, Matthias Tesche, Helen Smith, Alexandra Tsekeri, Holger Baars, Maximilian Dollner, Víctor Estellés, Johannes Bühl, Bernadett Weinzierl, Zbigniew Ulanowski, Detlef Müller, and Vassilis Amiridis
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 6781–6797, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-6781-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-6781-2021, 2021
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Mineral dust concentrations in the diameter range from 0.4 to 14.0 μm were measured with the balloon-borne UCASS optical particle counter. Launches were coordinated with ground-based remote-sensing and airborne in situ measurements during a Saharan dust outbreak over Cyprus. Particle number concentrations reached 50 cm−3 for the diameter range 0.8–13.9 μm. Comparisons with aircraft data show reasonable agreement in magnitude and shape of the particle size distribution.
Sebastian O'Shea, Jonathan Crosier, James Dorsey, Louis Gallagher, Waldemar Schledewitz, Keith Bower, Oliver Schlenczek, Stephan Borrmann, Richard Cotton, Christopher Westbrook, and Zbigniew Ulanowski
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 1917–1939, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-1917-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-1917-2021, 2021
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The number, shape, and size of ice crystals in clouds are important properties that influence the Earth's radiation budget, cloud evolution, and precipitation formation. This work suggests that one of the most widely used methods for in situ measurements of these properties has significant uncertainties and biases. We suggest methods that dramatically improve these measurements, which can be applied to past and future datasets from these instruments.
Maurin Zouzoua, Fabienne Lohou, Paul Assamoi, Marie Lothon, Véronique Yoboue, Cheikh Dione, Norbert Kalthoff, Bianca Adler, Karmen Babić, Xabier Pedruzo-Bagazgoitia, and Solène Derrien
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 2027–2051, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-2027-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-2027-2021, 2021
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Based on a field experiment conducted in June and July 2016, we analyzed the daytime breakup of continental low-level stratiform clouds over southern West Africa in order to provide complementary guidance for model evaluation during the monsoon season. Those clouds exhibit weaker temperature and moisture jumps at the top compared to marine stratiform clouds. Their lifetime and the transition towards shallow convective clouds during daytime hours depend on their coupling with the surface.
Vasiliki Daskalopoulou, Sotirios A. Mallios, Zbigniew Ulanowski, George Hloupis, Anna Gialitaki, Ioanna Tsikoudi, Konstantinos Tassis, and Vassilis Amiridis
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 927–949, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-927-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-927-2021, 2021
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This research highlights the detection of charged Saharan dust in Greece and provides indications of charge separation in the plumes through the first-ever co-located ground electric field measurements and sophisticated lidar observations. We provide a robust methodology for the extraction of a fair-weather proxy field used to assess the effect of lofted dust particles to the electric field and insert a realistic modelling aspect to the charge accumulation areas within electrically active dust.
Joseph Girdwood, Helen Smith, Warren Stanley, Zbigniew Ulanowski, Chris Stopford, Charles Chemel, Konstantinos-Matthaios Doulgeris, David Brus, David Campbell, and Robert Mackenzie
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 6613–6630, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-6613-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-6613-2020, 2020
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We present the design and validation of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) equipped with a bespoke optical particle counter (OPC). This is used to monitor atmospheric particles, which have significant effects on our weather and climate. These effects are hard to characterise properly, partly because they occur in regions that are not commonly accessible to traditional instrumentation. Our new platform gives us the capability to access these regions.
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Short summary
A new aerological dropsonde system for research aircraft has been developed. The system allows up to four sondes to be dropped with one release container, and data from up to 30 sondes can be transmitted simultaneously. The sondes enable high-resolution profiling of temperature, humidity, pressure, and wind. Additional sensors for radioactivity and particles have been integrated and tested. Operations in different campaigns have confirmed the reliability of the system and the quality of data.
A new aerological dropsonde system for research aircraft has been developed. The system allows...
