English

A radiosonde being charged and checked before use

Noun

radiosonde ‎(plural radiosondes)

1. A miniature radio carried aloft by an unmanned balloon to automatically transmit measurements of the upper air such as the wind speed, pressure, temperature, and relative humidity to a receiving station on the ground.
   • 1980, National Research Council (U.S.) Select Committee on the National Weather Service, Technological and Scientific Opportunities for Improved Weather and Hydrological Services in the Coming Decade, page 44,

     The ultimate limitation of radiosonde networks is the impracticality of global deployment. […] Although, in principle, satellite soundings should be able to match radiosonde accuracies, in practice, they have errors of at least twice those of radiosondes.

   • 2000, Desmond T. Bailey, Meteorological Monitoring Guidance for Regulatory Modeling Applications, U.S. Enviromental Protection Agency, page 9-17,

     Thus, the performance characteristics of radiosondes and the relative accuracy of radiosonde winds have been the subject of a great deal of scrutiny over the last few decades.

   • 2001, Fred V. Brock, Scott J. Richardson, Meteorological Measurement Systems, page 225,

     Sounding balloons carry a payload, usually a radiosonde, to heights of 30 km or more.

Derived terms

• endoradiosonde
• RAOB

Translations

See also

• rawin

French

Pronunciation

• Homophones: radiosondent, radiosondes

Verb

radiosonde

1. first-person singular present indicative of radiosonder
2. third-person singular present indicative of radiosonder
3. first-person singular present subjunctive of radiosonder
4. third-person singular present subjunctive of radiosonder
5. second-person singular imperative of radiosonder

Italian

Noun

radiosonde f

1. plural of radiosonda