Upper-air sounding

From Glossary of Meteorology



upper-air sounding[edit | edit source]

(Also called upper-air observation.) A measurement of the vertical profile of the thermodynamic and kinematic state of the atmosphere.

A radiosonde makes an in situ point measurement of the atmosphere that it passes through. In contrast, a radar or lidar profiler makes a remotely sensed volumetric measurement of the atmosphere above the profiler location.
See also radiosonde observation, rawinsonde, rocketsonde, sounding.


  1. A gaseous envelope gravitationally bound to a celestial body (e.g., a planet, its satellite, or a star).
Retrieved from "https://glossarystaging.ametsoc.net/w/index.php?title=Upper-air_sounding&oldid=3324"
Powered by MediaWiki
Powered by WikiTeq
Powered by Semantic MediaWiki
Copyright 2024 American Meteorological Society (AMS). For permission to reuse any portion of this work, please contact permissions@ametsoc.org. Any use of material in this work that is determined to be “fair use” under Section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Act (17 U.S. Code § 107) or that satisfies the conditions specified in Section 108 of the U.S.Copyright Act (17 USC § 108) does not require AMS’s permission. Republication, systematic reproduction, posting in electronic form, such as on a website or in a searchable database, or other uses of this material, except as exempted by the above statement, require written permission or a license from AMS. Additional details are provided in the AMS Copyright Policy statement.