page_title: Radiosonde
hierarchical_section_title: Radiosonde
caption_attribution_description: A GPS sonde ready for flight.
context_page_description: A radiosonde is a battery-powered telemetry instrument carried into the atmosphere usually by a weather balloon that measures various atmospheric parameters and transmits them by radio to a ground receiver. Modern radiosondes measure or calculate the following variables: altitude, pressure, temperature, relative humidity, wind, cosmic ray readings at high altitude and geographical position. Radiosondes measuring ozone concentration are known as ozonesondes.
  Radiosondes may operate at a radio frequency of 403 MHz or 1680 MHz. A radiosonde whose position is tracked as it ascends to give wind speed and direction information is called a rawinsonde. Most radiosondes have radar reflectors and are technically rawinsondes. A radiosonde that is dropped from an airplane and falls, rather than being carried by a balloon is called a dropsonde. Radiosondes are an essential source of meteorological data, and hundreds are launched all over the world daily.
context_section_description: A radiosonde is a battery-powered telemetry instrument carried into the atmosphere usually by a weather balloon that measures various atmospheric parameters and transmits them by radio to a ground receiver. Modern radiosondes measure or calculate the following variables: altitude, pressure, temperature, relative humidity, wind (both wind speed and wind direction), cosmic ray readings at high altitude and geographical position (latitude/longitude). Radiosondes measuring ozone concentration are known as ozonesondes.
  Radiosondes may operate at a radio frequency of 403 MHz or 1680 MHz.  A radiosonde whose position is tracked as it ascends to give wind speed and direction information is called a rawinsonde ("radar wind -sonde").  Most radiosondes have radar reflectors and are technically rawinsondes.  A radiosonde that is dropped from an airplane and falls, rather than being carried by a balloon is called a dropsonde.  Radiosondes are an essential source of meteorological data, and hundreds are launched all over the world daily.
caption: A GPS sonde, approx 220 × 80 ×75 mm (8.7 × 3.1 × 3 in) (with grounding station in the background, used to perform a 'ground check' and also recondition the humidity sensor)
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