© Crown copyright Met Office John Nash 1, Tim Oakley 1, Mark Smees 1, S.Kurnosenko 2 and Li Wei 3 1 Met Office, Fitzroy Road, Exeter, EX1 3PB, UK 2 [email protected]

© Crown copyright Met Office

John Nash1, Tim Oakley1, Mark Smees1, S.Kurnosenko2and Li Wei3

1Met Office, Fitzroy Road, Exeter, EX1 3PB, [email protected] Observation Centre, China Meteorological AdministrationNo. 46 Zhongguacun, Nandajie, BEIJING 100081, China

Initial Results from the WMO Radiosonde Intercomparison,Yangjiang, China, July 2010

Li Wei, Chinese Project Leader

WMO team, Project Leader Tim Oakley

Remote sensing, Mark Smees,Data handling, Gonzague Romanens

WMO team, Project Leader Tim Oakley

Remote sensing, Mark Smees

WMO team, Data manager, Sergey Kurnosenko

Holger Vomel, Scientific Sounding Systems Leader

Test took place from 13 July to 1 August at the Atmospheric Observatory, Yangjiang, Guangdong, China

62 Quality Radiosonde Test flights10 Scientific Sounding test flights

balloons and flight rig prepared by 15 Chinese radiosonde test experts selected from radiosonde stations across

China

Burst Height (m) & Pressure

0

5000

10000

15000

20000

25000

30000

35000

40000

45000

1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29 31 33 35 37 39 41 43 45 47 49 51 53 55 57 59 61 63 65 67 69 71

Flight Number

Height

(

m

)

0.0

20.0

40.0

60.0

80.0

100.0

120.0

140.0

160.0

180.0

200.0

Pressure

Burst Height Burst Pressure

Company Ground System Radiosonde Temperaturesensor

Humidity sensor

Intermet iMet-3200 iMet2 Bead thermistor Thin filmCapacitor(E+E)

Modem SR2K2 M2K2DC Bead thermistor Capacitivepolymer

Graw Radiosonde GmbH

GS-E DFM-09 Thermistor Thin filmCapacitor(E+E)

Meteolabor ARGUS 37 SRS-C34 Thermocouple Hygroclip Rotronic*Snow White hygrometer

Nanjing Da Qiao

Machine Co Ltd

L-BandGFE1 type

GTS1-2digital

Cylindricalthermistor

HS02Humicap

Jin Yang GL-5000PB RSG-20A NTC Thermistor Thin filmCapacitor(E+E)

Mesei Co. LTD RD-06G RS-06G Thermistor Capacitance polymer

Vaisala Oyj DigiCora, MW31 RS92-SGP Capacitive wire Thin film capacitor, heated

twin sensor

Beijing Chang Feng Surface Acoustic

wave Co.

GPS Radiosounding

System

CF-06-A Bead resistance

Thin filmCapacitor

China HuaYun HY-GTS(U) GTS(U)1-1 Bead thermistor Thin filmCapacitor(E+E)

Lockheed Martin

Sippican INC

LMG6 GPSLMS6 Radiosonde

GPS Multithermistor

LMS6 Radiosonde

Chip thermistor Thin filmCapacitor(E+E)

Changfeng

Huayun DaqiaoVaisala

LMS

Graw Intermet

Meisei

Meteolabor

Jinyang

Highest measurement

Balloon rate of ascent, m.s-1

Merged preliminary resultsfor quality radiosondes

• Not to be reproduced

Preliminary simultaneous nighttime temperature differences [K],Yanjiang,2010

-1.40

-1.20

-1.00

-0.80

-0.60

-0.40

-0.20

0.00

0.20

0.40

0.60

0.80

1.00

1.20

1.40

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34

HEIGHT[KM]

TEMP

ERTA

URE

DIFF

EREN

CE [K

]

MEISEI

VAISALA

DAQIAO

CHANGF

HUAYUN

LM

INTERMSA

MODEM

GRAW

ML

JINYANG

Estimates of random error in nighttime temperature measurements [K]Yangjiang, 2010

0.00

0.20

0.40

0.60

0.80

1.00

1.20

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34

Height [km]

Estim

ate o

f ran

dom

erro

r in

Tem

pera

ture

[K

]

MEISEI

VAISALA

DAQIAO

CHANGF

HUAYUN

LM

INTERMSA

MODEM

GRAW

ML

JINYANG

Preliminary simultaneous daytime temperature differences [K], Yangjiang 2010

-1.40

-1.20

-1.00

-0.80

-0.60

-0.40

-0.20

0.00

0.20

0.40

0.60

0.80

1.00

1.20

1.40

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34

Height (km)

Tem

pera

ture

diff

eren

ce (K

)

LM

VAISALA

DAQIAO

CHANGF

HUAYUN

INTERMSA

MODEM

GRAW

MEISEI

ML

JINYANG

MEIS_REF

3THERM

VAIS_REF

Estimates of random error in nighttime temperature measurements [K],Yangjiang, 2010

0.00

0.20

0.40

0.60

0.80

1.00

1.20

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34

Height [km]

Estim

ate

of ra

nom

err

or in

tem

pera

ture

[K]

LM

VAISALA

DAQIAO

CHANGF

HUAYUN

INTERMSA

MODEM

GRAW

MEISEI

ML

JINYANG

MEIS_REF

3THERM

VAIS_REF

Preliminary simultaneous geopotential height differences [gpm],Yangjiang , 2010

-140.00

-120.00

-100.00

-80.00

-60.00

-40.00

-20.00

0.00

20.00

40.00

60.00

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34

Height [km]

Geo

pote

ntia

l hei

ght d

iffer

ence

[g

pm]

LM

VAISALA

DAQIAO

CHANGF

HUAYUN

INTERMSA

MODEM

GRAW

MEISEI

ML

JINYANG

3therm

Estimates of random error in geopotential height measurements [gpm],Yangjian, China, 2010

0.0

20.0

40.0

60.0

80.0

100.0

120.0

140.0

160.0

180.0

200.0

220.0

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40

Height [km]

Estim

ate

of ra

ndom

err

or in

geo

pote

ntia

l hei

ght

[ gpm

]

LM

VAISALA

DAQIAO

CHANGF

HUAYUN

INTERMSA

MODEM

GRAW

MEISEI

ML

JINYANG

Relative humidity night time differences as a function of relative humidity at pressure greater than 500 hPa (Temperatures greater than 0 deg C), Yangjiang

-10

-8

-6

-4

-2

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Relative humidity [per cent]

Rela

tive

hum

idity

diff

eren

ce [

per c

ent]

LM

VAISALA

DAQIAO

CHANGF

HUAYUN

INTERMSA

MODEM

GRAW

MEISEI

ML

JINYANG

ML_SW

Relative humidity differences as a function of relative humidity at pressures greater than 500 hPa, [Temperatures higher than 0 deg C], daytime, Yangiang

-8.0

-6.0

-4.0

-2.0

0.0

2.0

4.0

6.0

8.0

10.0

12.0

14.0

0.0 10.0 20.0 30.0 40.0 50.0 60.0 70.0 80.0 90.0 100.0


rela

tive

hum

idity

diff

eren

ce

[per

cen

t]

LM

VAISALA

DAQIAO

CHANGF

HUAYUN

INTERMSA

MODEM

GRAW

meisei-LM

ML-LM

JINYANG

ML_SW

Estimates of random error in nighttime relative humidity measurements at pressures higher than 500 hPa [temperatures higher than 0 deg C], Yanjiang, 2010

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Relative Humidity [per cent]

Estim

ated

rand

om re

lativ

e hu

mid

iity

errr

or[p

er c

ent]

LM

VAISALA

DAQIAO

CHANGF

HUAYUN

INTERMSA

MODEM

GRAW

MEISEI

ML

JINYANG

ML_SW

Estimates of random error in daytime realtive humidity measurements at pressures higher than 500 hPa [temperatures higher than 0 deg C], Yangjiang, 2010

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100


Estim

ated

ran

dom

err

or in

rela

tive

hum

idity

[pe

r cen

t]

LM

VAISALA

DAQIAO

CHANGF

HUAYUN

INTERMSA

MODEM

GRAW

MEISEI

ML

JINYANG

ML_SW

Relative humidity differences as a function of relative humidity pressures between 200 and 500 hPa[Temperatures between 0 and -40 deg C approx], nighttime, Yangjiang

-10

-8

-6

-4

-2

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

20

22

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100


Re

lati

ve

Hu

mid

ity

dif

fere

nc

e [

pe

r c

en

t]

LM

VAISALA

DAQIAO

CHANGF

HUAYUN

INTERMSA

MODEM

GRAW

MEISEI

ML

JINYANG

ML_SW

Relative humidity differences as a function of relative humidity .pressures between 200 and 500 hPa [Temperatures between 0 and -40 degC approx] daytime, Yangjiang

-10

-8

-6

-4

-2

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

20

22

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100


Re

lati

ve

hu

md

ity

dif

fere

nc

e[

pe

r c

en

t]

LM

VAISALA

DAQIAO

CHANGF

HUAYUN

INTERMSA

MODEM

GRAW

MEISEI

ML

JINYANG

ML_SW

Estimated random error in relative humidity measurements, night time, pressure between 200 and 500 hPa, Yangjiang, 2010

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

20

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100


Ra

nd

om

err

or

in r

ela

tiv

e h

um

idit

y

[pe

r c

en

t]

LM

VAISALA

DAQIAO

CHANGF

HUAYUN

INTERMSA

MODEM

GRAW

MEISEI

ML

JINYANG

ML_SW

Estimated random error in relative humdity measurements, day time, pressure between 200 and 500 hPa, Yangjiang, 2010

0.0

2.0

4.0

6.0

8.0

10.0

12.0

14.0

16.0

18.0

20.0

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Relative Humidity [per cent]

Es

tim

ate

d r

an

do

m e

rro

r in

re

lati

ve

hu

mid

ity

[p

er

ce

nt]

LM

VAISALA

DAQIAO

CHANGF

HUAYUN

INTERMSA

MODEM

GRAW

MEISEI

ML

JINYANG

ML_SW

Radiosondes allowed on Scientific sounding instrument (SSI) flights were:

Cryogenic Frost point hygrometer (CFH)

Meisei fast response temperature sensor

LMS Multithermistor LMS6 Radiosonde

Vaisala reference radiosonde ( DryCap frost point measurement)

Graw DFM-09 radiosonde [limited number of flights]

Science flightnight

Science flightnight

Science flightday

Science flightday

Documents

© Crown copyright Met Office John Nash 1, Tim Oakley 1, Mark Smees 1, S.Kurnosenko 2 and Li Wei 3 1 Met Office, Fitzroy Road, Exeter, EX1 3PB, UK 2 [email protected]