You have probably noticed a fenced area with various measuring devices while you were out walking or hiking. It was most likely one of our many automatic measuring stations. In addition to these ground measuring stations, MeteoSwiss also uses satellites to measure the atmosphere.
However, none of these techniques make it possible to record the altitude development of the individual parameters in the atmosphere. Radio soundings are crucial for this. They measure various atmospheric variables in the vertical direction – in other words, a vertical profile of the atmosphere is created. These parameters are not only necessary for a short-term analysis of events, but they are also required as basic data for the numerical forecast models. Weather models are not always able to model the stratification of the atmosphere correctly. Profile measurements are therefore crucial for correcting the models.
The atmosphere consists of different layers:
the troposphere, above which is the stratosphere, followed by the mesosphere, thermosphere and exosphere. The troposphere, also known as the weather layer, measures approximately 10 kilometers in our latitudes. The temperature profile gives us information about stability. The humidity profile can be used to determine the heights of the clouds, and the wind profile is important for aviation forecasting, for example.
Atmosphere profile measured by a weather balloon launched romania phone number library from Payerne on Friday 17 February at 00:00 UTC. (MeteoSwiss)
The figure above shows a sounding in Payerne at 00 UTC on Friday, February 17. The vertical axis shows the altitude (left as pressure in hPa, right as altitude in kilometers) and the horizontal axis shows the air temperature (thick solid line) and the dew point (dashed). The thin solid line shows the wet bulb temperature.
A thermal inversion can be seen on the ground
The temperature increases from the ground to about 800 meters above sea level and then falls again. Due to the nighttime radiation, a cold air lake can form at night. If the temperature reaches the dew point temperature, fog can form. On this night, however, the nighttime radiation was disrupted by the clouds above. We see this cloud layer at a height of let users customize their email preferences about 3000 meters – where the lines of air and dew point temperature meet.
Radiosounding
Some aircraft can also create atmospheric profiles. They awb directory transmit temperature profiles, but these are limited to the altitude of the aircraft. Meteorologists have therefore been using weather balloons for more than a century.
These balloons are usually filled with helium and are equipped with measuring instruments in a housing. This instrument box is used to measure the temperature and humidity. The weather balloons are also equipped with a GPS to determine the altitude, flight path and wind speed and direction. Thanks to a radio transmitter, the measurement data is transmitted in real time. MeteoSwiss carries out two launches a day in Payerne, at midnight and at noon.
