Arctic metrology: calibration of radiosondes ground check sensors in Ny‐Ålesund

Musacchio, Chiara; Bellagarda, Simone; Maturilli, Marion; Graeser, Jürgen; Vitale, Vito; Merlone, A.

doi:10.1002/met.1506

Cited by 14 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…Before its end of production, Vaisala's RS92 radiosonde was also widely used outside of GRUAN, with a global market share of approximately 30 % (including at least daily launches at sites on every continent). Its performance was among the best of the commercially available radiosonde models (Nash et al, 2011). Until recently, the majority of the 27 GRUAN sites employed the RS92 (listed in Table 1 and shown in Fig.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Managing the transition from Vaisala RS92 to RS41 radiosondes within the Global Climate Observing System Reference Upper-Air Network (GRUAN): a progress report

Dirksen

Bodeker

Thorne

et al. 2020

Geosci. Instrum. Method. Data Syst.

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Abstract. This paper describes the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) Reference Upper-Air Network (GRUAN) approach to managing the transition from the Vaisala RS92 to the Vaisala RS41 as the operational radiosonde. The goal of GRUAN is to provide long-term high-quality reference observations of upper-air essential climate variables (ECVs) such as temperature and water vapor. With GRUAN data being used for climate monitoring, it is vital that the change of measurement system does not introduce inhomogeneities to the data record. The majority of the 27 GRUAN sites were launching the RS92 as their operational radiosonde, and following the end of production of the RS92 in the last quarter of 2017, most of these sites have now switched to the RS41. Such a large-scale change in instrumentation is unprecedented in the history of GRUAN and poses a challenge for the network. Several measurement programs have been initiated to characterize differences in biases, uncertainties, and noise between the two radiosonde types. These include laboratory characterization of measurement errors, extensive twin sounding studies with RS92 and RS41 on the same balloon, and comparison with ancillary data. This integrated approach is commensurate with the GRUAN principles of traceability and deliberate redundancy. A 2-year period of regular twin soundings is recommended, and for sites that are not able to implement this, burden-sharing is employed such that measurements at a certain site are considered representative of other sites with similar climatological characteristics. All data relevant to the RS92–RS41 transition are archived in a database that will be accessible to the scientific community for external scrutiny. Furthermore, the knowledge and experience gained regarding GRUAN's RS92–RS41 transition will be extensively documented to ensure traceability of the process. This documentation will benefit other networks in managing changes in their operational radiosonde systems. Preliminary analysis of the laboratory experiments indicates that the manufacturer's calibration of the RS41 temperature and humidity sensors is more accurate than for the RS92, with uncertainties of <0.2 K for the temperature and <1.5 % RH (RH: relative humidity) for the humidity sensor. A first analysis of 224 RS92–RS41 twin soundings at Lindenberg Observatory shows nighttime temperature differences <0.1 K between the Vaisala-processed temperature data for the RS41 (TRS41) and the GRUAN data product for the RS92 (TRS92-GDP.2). However, daytime temperature differences in the stratosphere increase steadily with altitude, with TRS92-GDP.2 up to 0.6 K higher than TRS41 at 35 km. RHRS41 values are up to 8 % higher, which is consistent with the analysis of satellite–radiosonde collocations.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Managing the transition from Vaisala RS92 to RS41 radiosondes within the Global Climate Observing System Reference Upper-Air Network (GRUAN): a progress report

Dirksen

Bodeker

Thorne

et al. 2020

Geosci. Instrum. Method. Data Syst.

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“…MeteoMet aimed to link the metrological and meteorological communities and to apply robust metrological methods for retrieving traceable reference-quality meteorological observations that can be used for climate monitoring. For this purpose, MeteoMet advocates the application of climatic chambers which create environments of controlled temperature, pressure, and humidity 405 settings, similar to the one at Lindenberg Observatory (Section 5).Besides laboratory facility, transportable calibration chambers have been developed and involved in a field campaign at the Ny-Ålesund GRUAN site, for the calibration of ground based pre-launch check sensors for pressure and temperature(Musacchio et al, 2015). The novelty of the system was its capability to generate pressure and temperature independently, thus making the calibration410 curves inclusive of mutual factors of influence (mainly temperature on barometers).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Progress in managing the transition from the RS92 to the Vaisala RS41 as the operational radiosonde within the GCOS Reference Upper-Air Network

Dirksen

Bodeker

Thorne

et al. 2019

Preprint

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Abstract. This paper describes the GRUAN-wide approach to manage the transition from the Vaisala RS92 to the Vaisala RS41 as the operational radiosonde. The goal of the GCOS Reference Upper-Air Network (GRUAN) is to provide long-term high-quality reference observations of upper air Essential Climate Variables (ECVs) such as temperature and water vapor. With GRUAN data being used for climate monitoring, it is vital that the change of measurement system does not introduce inhomogeneities in to the data record. The majority of the 27 GRUAN sites were launching the RS92 as their operational radiosonde, and following the end of production of the RS92 in the last quarter of 2017, most of these sites have now switched to the RS41. Such a large-scale change in instrumentation is unprecedented in the history of GRUAN and poses a challenge for the network. Several measurement programmes have been initiated to characterize differences in biases, uncertainties and noise between the two radiosonde types. These include laboratory characterization of measurement errors, extensive twin sounding studies with RS92 and RS41 on the same balloon, and comparison with ancillary data. This integrated approach is commensurate with the GRUAN principles of traceability and deliberate redundancy. A two-year period of regular twin soundings is recommended, and for sites that are not able to implement this burden sharing is employed, such that measurements at a certain site are considered representative of other sites with similar climatological characteristics. All data relevant to the RS92-RS41 transition are archived in a database that will be accessible to the scientific community for external scrutiny. Furthermore, the knowledge and experience gained about GRUAN's RS92-RS41 transition will be extensively documented to ensure traceability of the process. This documentation will benefit other networks in managing changes in their operational radiosonde systems. Preliminary analysis of the laboratory experiments indicates that the manufacturer's calibration of the RS41's temperature and humidity sensors is more accurate than for the RS92; with uncertainties of

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“…Italian National Institute of Metrology (INRiM) staff were requested to join the evaluation committee. Recent work at INRiM included research activities and scientific production of direct interest for the present study: development of specific calibration systems and procedures (Musacchio et al, ), also for application in extreme environmental conditions (Musacchio et al, ), inclusion of changes in temperature standards for temperature series and extremes (Pavlasek et al, ), and specifically with the coordination of the large European project “MeteoMet—Metrology for Meteorology (Merlone et al, ; ). Both the Mitribah and Turbat stations were asked to send the thermometers that recorded the extreme temperature values to INRiM, where staff were made available for this study that requested specific calibration and comparison procedures.…”

Section: Metadata For Mitribah Kuwait and Turbat Pakistanmentioning

confidence: 99%

Temperature extreme records: World Meteorological Organization metrological and meteorological evaluation of the 54.0°C observations in Mitribah, Kuwait and Turbat, Pakistan in 2016/2017

Merlone

Al‐Dashti²,

Nadeem³

et al. 2019

Intl Journal of Climatology

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A World Meteorological Organization (WMO) committee officially evaluated temperature record extremes of 54.0°C at two locations, one in Mitribah, Kuwait on July 21, 2016 and a second in Turbat, Pakistan on May 28, 2017. The committee agreed that quantity and quality of documentation of both observations were excellent. Additional metrological testing of the equipment focused on three aspects: the calibration of both thermometers, an effort to estimate the factors influencing the measurements and a direct comparison of the two thermometers when exposed simultaneously to 54°C. The metrological analysis's conclusion for the Mitribah value is a temperature estimated to be 53.87°C with an expanded uncertainty of ±0.08°C. Correspondingly, for the Turbat value the temperature is estimated to be 53.72°C with an expanded uncertainty of ±0.40°C. Following that analysis, the committee recommended acceptance of the calibrated observations to the first decimal digit such that the Mitribah observation is accepted as 53.9 ± 0.1°C and the Turbat as 53.7 ± 0.4°C. The Mitribah, Kuwait temperature is now accepted by the WMO as the highest temperature ever recorded for Asia (WMO RA II) and the two observations are the third (tied within uncertainty limits) and fourth highest WMO‐recognized temperature extremes and, significantly, they are the highest, officially recognized temperatures to have been recorded in the last 76 years. This evaluation has involved the most extensive temperature extremes analysis ever to be undertaken by an international evaluation committee of the WMO CCl Archive of Weather and Climate Extremes.

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Arctic metrology: calibration of radiosondes ground check sensors in Ny‐Ålesund

Cited by 14 publications

References 11 publications

Managing the transition from Vaisala RS92 to RS41 radiosondes within the Global Climate Observing System Reference Upper-Air Network (GRUAN): a progress report

Managing the transition from Vaisala RS92 to RS41 radiosondes within the Global Climate Observing System Reference Upper-Air Network (GRUAN): a progress report

Progress in managing the transition from the RS92 to the Vaisala RS41 as the operational radiosonde within the GCOS Reference Upper-Air Network

Temperature extreme records: World Meteorological Organization metrological and meteorological evaluation of the 54.0°C observations in Mitribah, Kuwait and Turbat, Pakistan in 2016/2017

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