Meteorologists use radiosondes to measure the environmental lapse rate and compare it to the predicted adiabatic lapse rate to forecast the likelihood that air will rise. Charts of the environmental lapse rate are known as tephigrams.
Radiosondes can be tracked by radar, radio direction finding, or navigation systems (such as the satellite Global Positioning System) to obtain wind data. See also rawinsonde.
Mandatory Levels Twice daily, at 12 hour intervals, the weather services around the world probe the atmosphere with balloon launched instrumentation, called radiosondes.
Weather Balloon - large balloons filled with helium or hydrogen and carry radiosondes (weather instruments) aloft to measure temperature pressure and humidity as the balloon rises through the air.
Radiosondes and weather satellites are examples of instrument platforms used in meteorology.
Last update 6 June 1996 Edward J. Hopkins, Ph.D. Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences University of Wisconsin-Madison hopkins@meteor.wisc.edu ...
An instrument that is carried aloft by a balloon to send back information on atmospheric temperature, pressure and humidity by means of a small, expendable radio transmitter. Radiosondes can be tracked by radar, radio direction finding, ...
For example, LiCl (used to measure relative humidity by conduction current in older radiosondes) deliquesces at relative humidity in excess of 15%.
Automatic Radio Theodolite Master Control Unit (ART) This unit is used to automatically track radiosondes.
NOAA's National Weather Service (NWS) operates a network of about 90 radiosonde observing sites in the U.S. and its territories. When the balloons burst, radiosondes return to Earth on a parachute.
 See also: Radiosonde, Temperature, Atmosphere, Surface, Air
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