Radiosonde Campaign

Balloon launch and radiotheodolite equipment. Photos: A. Otárola, 1998 October

The Chajnantor radiosonde campaign is a collaborative effort of the US/ European ALMA project, Cornell University, the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory Submillimeter Receiver Lab, and the LMSA project. Flights from Chajnantor began in 1998 October.

Flight notes, ESO page, Cornell page, LMSA page

Equipment

The campaign uses two AIR 5A radiotheodolites. Through 2001 May, AIR 5A sondes were used exclusively. Vaisala acquired AIR in 1999 and discontinued the 5A sondes in 2000. The radiothodolites were upgraded in 2001 to work with Vaisala RS80 sondes.

Specifications: radiotheodolite, AIR 5A Sondes, Vaisala RS80 Sondes

Flight Data

2002

Flight	UT Launch Date* & Data	h_max [m]	Analysis				Sonde Type & Serial Number	Comments
			NRAO		ESO
			PWV [mm]	plots	PWV [mm]	plots

290	November 3 15^h	19536					RS80-67:	Wind Speed in knots. Duplicate flight number. (SR)

2001

Flight	UT Launch Date* & Data	h_max [m]	Analysis				Sonde Type & Serial Number	Comments
			NRAO		ESO
			PWV [mm]	plots	PWV [mm]	plots

290	December 13 18^h	20398		ps.gz			RS80-67: 131457701	Small problem at 14637 m. Wind almost to top. Narrow neck balloon. (BB)
289	December 13 13^h	19903		ps.gz			RS80-67: 131457708	Small problem at 14422 m. Wind almost to top. Narrow neck balloon. (BB)
288	December 12 19^h	16039		ps.gz			RS80-67: 131457700	No apparent problems, but had a somewhat odd descent (it was just extremely long). Can't recall balloon neck. (BB)
287	December 12 13^h	14310		ps.gz			RS80-67: 131457709	Didn't go so high. Fat neck balloon. (BB)
286	December 11 19^h	14170		ps.gz			RS80-67: 131457803	Small problems at 10908 m, 11687 m, 13068 m, 13368 m, & 13740 m. Very strange descent. (BB)
285	December 11 14^h	19271		ps.gz			RS80-67: 131457812	Small problem at 12746 m. Also an oddity with RH, where for short intervals, there is a large increase in RH. Wind out at 18.9 km. (BB)
283	December 10 19^h	15850		ps.gz			RS80-66: 048336254	Same problem as 01120916; the RH went to 1% in 3 altitude ranges. Wind to top. Fat neck balloon. (BB)
282	December 10 16^h	20712		ps.gz			5A:	Wind out at 20.1 km. (BB)
281	December 10 13^h	20510		ps.gz			5A: 80110143C49	Wind out at 20.1 km. (BB)
280	December 9 19^h	7745		ps.gz			5A: 80110413B29	Weirdness at low altitudes (right at the surface) - altitudes go: 5000, 5072, 5032, 5032, 5027, 5030, 5035. After that, they seem OK, but sonde didn't go very high. (BB)
279	December 9 13^h	23882 ?		ps.gz			RS80-66: 048336249	Weirdness. Altitudes are odd at first - the order goes: 5000, 4801, 4926, 4945, 4983, 5000, 5015. The data go up to 46012 m (!), but the tempearature and dew point remain relatively unchanged above 22622 m and really don't change at all above 23895 m. Also the RH goes to 1% at 14986 m and stays there (at 1.00%) until 21540 m. (BB)
278	December 9 13^h	21229		ps.gz			5A: 80110413C10	Wind out at 20.8 km. (BB)
277	December 8 18^h	20217		ps.gz			5A: 80110413B37	Wind out at 19.9 km. (BB)
276	December 8 14^h	19280		ps.gz			5A: 80110413B32	Wind out at 18.9 km. (BB)
275	December 7 19^h	21206		ps.gz			5A: 80110413B43	Big problem at 6375 m. Wind speed and direction out at 12.8 km, back at 16.8 km, out again at 20.8 km. (BB)

272	October 31 21^h	7100					RS80-67: 131457714	Tucson trial balloon; slow ascent; signal weak above 7100 m (SR)
271	October 23 22^h	9690?					RS80-66: 118332741	Tucson trial balloon; wind speed in knots; temperature and humidity failed at 5956 m (SR)
270	October 23 21^h	1183					RS80-66: 118332746	Tucson trial balloon; wind speed in knots; premature balloon deflation (SR)

268	May 5 18^h	16482		ps.gz			5A: 80110413B41
266	May 5 16^h	21841		ps.gz	5.43	gif 1, gif 2	5A: 80012617B58
265	May 5 14^h	18092		ps.gz	5.54	gif 1, gif 2	5A: 80012617C58
264	May 4 23^h	15434		ps.gz	4.15	gif 1, gif 2	5A: 80012617C34
263	May 4 18^h	19142		ps.gz	2.06	gif 1, gif 2	5A: 80012617B62
262	May 4 14^h	21025		ps.gz	1.36	gif 1, gif 2	5A: 80012515B43
261	May 4 0^h	14899		ps.gz	1.83	gif 1, gif 2	5A: 80012617B40
260	May 3 18^h	16996		ps.gz	1.81	gif 1, gif 2	5A: 80012617B61
259	May 3 14^h	15170		ps.gz		gif 1, gif 2	5A: 80012515C52
258	May 3 0^h	14716		ps.gz		gif 1, gif 2	5A: 80012515C62
257	May 2 19^h	13615		ps.gz		gif 1, gif 2	5A: 80012617C44
255	May 2 14^h	9064		ps.gz		gif 1, gif 2	5A: 80012617B39
253	May 1 23^h	16247		ps.gz		gif 1, gif 2	5A: 80012617C52
252	May 1 19^h	18719		ps.gz		gif 1, gif 2	5A: 80012617B25
251	May 1 14^h	17738		ps.gz		gif 1, gif 2	5A: 80012617C60
250	May 1 0^h	16423		ps.gz		gif 1, gif 2	5A: 80012515B29

249	April 30 18^h	19194		ps.gz		gif 1, gif 2	5A: 80012515B33
248	April 30 14^h	19432		ps.gz		gif 1, gif 2	5A: 80012617B16	Some wind dropouts at 13-15 km. (BB)
247	April 30 0^h	13153		ps.gz		gif 1, gif 2	5A: 80012617C53	Major problem around 7250 m. Problem around 9900 m. Major problem around 9950 m. More problems above that. No wind above 7000 m. (BB).
246	April 29 19^h	6527		ps.gz		gif 1, gif 2	5A: 80012617C57
245	April 29 14^h	12965		ps.gz		gif 1, gif 2	5A: 80012515B28
244	April 29 0^h	17331		ps.gz		gif 1, gif 2	5A: 80012617C61	Wind spotty and none above 11500 m. (BB)
243	April 28 19^h	13179		ps.gz		gif 1, gif 2	5A: 80012515C17
241	April 28 15^h	19813		ps.gz		gif 1, gif 2	5A: 80012617C36
240	April 27 18^h	20909		ps.gz		gif 1, gif 2	5A: 80012617C19
239	April 27 14^h	21950		ps.gz		gif 1, gif 2	5A: 80012814A33
238	April 27 0^h	6891		ps.gz		gif 1, gif 2	5A: 80012814B26
237	April 26 19^h	20608		ps.gz		gif 1, gif 2	5A: 80012515C49
236	April 26 14^h	19255		ps.gz		gif 1, gif 2	5A: 80012617B59
235	April 26 2^h	14027		ps.gz		gif 1, gif 2	5A: 80012617C33
232	April 25 18^h	11763		ps.gz		gif 1, gif 2	5A: 80012515A42
230	April 25 13^h	18921		ps.gz		gif 1, gif 2	5A: 80012814B14
229	April 24 19^h	15942		ps.gz		gif 1, gif 2	5A: 80012515A06	Minor problem at 6593 m. No wind after 8000 m. (BB)
228	April 11 9^h	17300		ps.gz		gif 1, gif 2	5A: 80012814B24
227	April 11 7^h	18631		ps.gz		gif 1, gif 2	5A: 80012814A40
226	April 11 6^h	14793		ps.gz		gif 1, gif 2	5A: 80012515A24	Tiny problem at 8805 m. Relatively low burst. (BB)
225	April 11 4^h	18105		ps.gz		gif 1, gif 2	5A: 80012515A04	Seems a nice flight, but there is something very odd about the dewpoint (and hence the humidity and water vapor partial pressure). From about 12 km upward, the RH goes up rapidly until it saturates at 100% around 16.5 km. Hard to believe the numbers for this flight because of that. (BB)
224	April 11 3^h	17947		ps.gz		gif 1, gif 2	5A: 80012515A01	Wind data spotty above 14000 m. (BB)
223	April 11 1^h	18152		ps.gz		gif 1, gif 2	5A: 80012814A29
222	April 10 8^h	19550		ps.gz		gif 1, gif 2	5A: 80012515A38
221	April 10 6^h	16018		ps.gz		gif 1, gif 2	5A: 80012515A33	No wind after 12000 m. (BB)
220	April 10 3^h	17375		ps.gz		gif 1, gif 2	5A: 80012515A02
219	April 10 1^h	19344		ps.gz		gif 1, gif 2	5A: 80012617C17
217	April 9 5^h	17350		ps.gz		gif 1, gif 2	5A: 80012515A35
216	April 9 3^h	18133		ps.gz		gif 1, gif 2	5A: 80012515A39	Don't believe altitudes above 18133 m. (SR) No wind from 12500 to 17000 m? Temp & d.p. measurements got stuck at 18133 m, causing crazy altitudes. (BB)
214	April 9 1^h	17479		ps.gz		gif 1, gif 2	5A: 80012814A08
213	April 6 9^h	11216		ps.gz		gif 1, gif 2	5A: 80012515A37	No wind above 10000 m and spotty below that? Premature burst. (BB)
212	April 6 8^h	12112		ps.gz		gif 1, gif 2	5A: 80010406D29	No wind above 10000 m and spotty below that? Premature burst. PWV too low. (BB)
211	April 6 5^h	14572		ps.gz		gif 1, gif 2	5A: 99120918D49	No wind above 10000 m? Premature burst. Unbelievably low PWV compared to the launches around it.(BB)
210	April 5 8^h	17836		ps.gz		gif 1, gif 2	5A: 99120918D48	No wind after 12000 m and spotty before that? (BB)
209	April 5 7^h	16310		ps.gz		gif 1, gif 2	5A: 80012515A25	No wind after 12000 m and spotty before that. (BB)
201	April 4 5^h	17774		ps.gz		gif 1, gif 2	5A: 80012814A43
200	April 4 3^h	17656		ps.gz	3.74	gif 1, gif 2	5A: 99120918B52

199	March 31 3^h	16594		ps.gz	2.43	gif 1, gif 2	5A: 80012814B27	Big problems around 7375 m. Lasted until altitude came back up to 7375 m. No wind after ~6000 m. Artificial termination maybe? (BB)

2000

Flight	UT Launch Date* & Data	h_max [m]	Analysis				Type 5A Sonde Serial Number	Comments
			NRAO		ESO
			PWV [mm]	plots	PWV [mm]	plots

196	December 17 13^h	20167	2.43	ps.gz	2.54	gif 1, gif 2	99120918D50
195	December 16 18^h	20684	1.29	ps.gz	1.33	gif 1, gif 2	99120918B63
194	December 16 15^h	21319	1.90	ps.gz	2.00	gif 1, gif 2	99120918D43	Single handed launch. (BB)
193	December 16 14^h	20063	1.29	ps.gz	1.34	gif 1, gif 2	99120918B58
192	December 15 18^h	19815	0.59	ps.gz			99020316B53	No windspeed above 10.5 km. (BB)
191	December 15 14^h	20685	1.09	ps.gz	1.18	gif 1, gif 2	99120918D04	No windspeed above 13 km. (BB)
189	December 14 18^h	17221	0.99	ps.gz	1.05	gif 1, gif 2	99120118D09	No windspeed above 8.5 km. (BB)
188	December 14 14^h	19042	0.88	ps.gz	0.90	gif 1, gif 2	99120918D07	No windspeed above 8.5 km. (BB)
187	December 13 18^h	19326	1.23	ps.gz	1.32	gif 1, gif 2		Tiny problem near 12.3 km. (BB)
184	December 13 16^h	21034	1.17	ps.gz	1.26	gif 1, gif 2	99120918B61	Tiny problem near 19 km. Windspeed spotty from 13 to 17 km. (BB)
181	December 13 13^h						99120918D39
180	December 12 16^h	20373	4.53	ps.gz	4.97	gif 1, gif 2	99120918B59	Help from visitors (Canizares and B.² Millard). (BB)

179	August 22 15^h	18567	1.24	ps.gz	1.36	gif 1, gif 2	99020316D02	Wind speed out around 12.3 km. (BB)
178	August 6 3^h	14192	0.70	ps.gz	0.75	gif 1, gif 2	9902031CB54	or 99020316B54? (SR)
177	August 4 11^h	13123	0.81	ps.gz	0.87	gif 1, gif 2	99120918D44	Short flight. (BB)
176	August 3 22^h	15458	0.63	ps.gz	0.72	gif 1, gif 2	99020316C43	Wind speed out around 8.8 km. (BB)
175	August 3 13^h	18001	0.27	ps.gz	0.32	gif 1, gif 2	99120918D06	Wind speed out around 7.5 km. Minor problem around 9750 m. (BB)
174	August 2 9^h	9063	0.27	ps.gz	0.30	gif 1, gif 2	99120918D56	Short flight. (BB)
172	August 1 9^h	10005	0.26	ps.gz	0.28	gif 1, gif 2	99120918B53	Short flight. (BB)

171	July 31 18^h	15173	0.37	ps.gz			99120918B49
170	July 31 17^h					gif 1, gif 2	99120918D14	Useless flight. Altitudes incorrect (start around 16.5 km). Only a few entries. (BB)
169	July 31 9^h	13009	0.38	ps.gz	0.42	gif 1, gif 2	99023116C19	Short flight. (BB)
168	July 30 18^h	16500	0.78	ps.gz	0.89	gif 1, gif 2	99120918B55	Minor problems. (BB)
167	July 30 9^h	12529	1.15	ps.gz	1.34	gif 1, gif 2	99023116C15	Short flight. Wind speed out around 10 km. (BB)
166	July 29 10^h	11483	1.12	ps.gz	1.31	gif 1, gif 2	99020316C40	Short flight. Some Az & El 9999's and wind speed 999's near surface. Wind speed out around 8.5 km. (BB)
164	July 28 18^h	11803	1.02	ps.gz	1.14	gif 1, gif 2	99020316C09	Short flight. Problems at 8250 m. (BB)
161	July 28 4^h	10002	0.83	ps.gz	0.94	gif 1, gif 2	99020316C00	Short flight. Some wind speed drop outs. (BB)
159	July 26 17^h	19637	1.35	ps.gz	1.58	gif 1, gif 2	99020316C39
155	July 25 18^h	19548	0.73	ps.gz	0.78	gif 1, gif 2	99020316B33
154	July 25 4^h	14489	0.63	ps.gz	0.70	gif 1, gif 2	99020316C17
150	July 23 2^h	12804	0.65	ps.gz	0.75	gif 1, gif 2	80012814A28?	Serial number uncertain; logbook inconsistent. (SR)
147	July 19 18^h	13692	0.48	ps.gz	0.53	gif 1, gif 2	99020316B57?	Serial number uncertain; logbook inconsistent. (SR)
144	July 17 21^h	15007	1.43	ps.gz	1.70	gif 1, gif 2	80012515C54?	Minor problem around 8.5 km. Wind speed out around 8.5 km. (BB) Serial number uncertain; logbook inconsistent. (SR)
141	July 15 13^h	18783	0.87	ps.gz	1.01	gif 1, gif 2	99020316C63	Wind speed out around 9.8 km. (BB)
140	July 14 14^h	17842	0.88	ps.gz	1.04	gif 1, gif 2	99020316C24	Minor problem around 14.5 km. Wind speed out around 9.8 km. (BB)
139	July 13 19^h	18256	0.37	ps.gz	0.41	gif 1, gif 2	99020316D16	Minor problem near surface. (BB)
138	July 13 15^h	19010	0.35	ps.gz	0.39	gif 1, gif 2	99020316D06
137	July 12 19^h	18980	0.67	ps.gz	0.77	gif 1, gif 2	99020316C44	Wind speed out around 14.5 km. (BB)
136	July 12 14^h	18346	0.67	ps.gz	0.76	gif 1, gif 2	99020316B48
135	July 3 16^h	19441		ps.gz		gif 1, gif 2		Humidity sensor broken. (BB)
134	July 1 13^h	19297	1.01	ps.gz	1.11	gif 1, gif 2
133	July 1 10^h	14358	0.66	ps.gz	0.77	gif 1, gif 2		Minor problems around 6.7 & 12.3 km. (BB)

132	June 30 16^h	19332	1.08	ps.gz	1.15	gif 1, gif 2		Minor problem around 16.2 km. (BB)
131	June 30 13^h	19236	1.00	ps.gz	1.08	gif 1, gif 2
130	June 30 10^h	11974	1.03	ps.gz	1.13	gif 1, gif 2
129	June 28 13^h	16820	1.47	ps.gz	1.73	gif 1, gif 2		Problems at 15.4 km. Some 9999's for Az & El. (BB)
128	June 28 11^h	13988	1.36	ps.gz	1.61	gif 1, gif 2		Problems at 9.2 km. Some 9999's for Az & El. (BB)
127	June 27 18^h	17706	0.51	ps.gz	0.57	gif 1, gif 2		Relatively poor flight. Major problems at 13.5 & 16.6 km. (BB)
126	June 27 15^h	17895	0.36	ps.gz	0.40	gif 1, gif 2		Oddities at 8890 and 16500 m. Other minor problems. (BB)
125	June 26 18^h	19588	0.47	ps.gz	0.50	gif 1, gif 2		Crazy El values. Minor problems at 19.1 km. (BB)
124	June 26 16^h	15722	0.46	ps.gz	0.53	gif 1, gif 2		Minor problems at 12.0 km. Wierdness in the altitudes at the end, probably due to temperature, which got stuck at -72.26. I cut off all values after temperature stopped changing. Note at the same time the temperature stuck at -72.26, the battery voltage went to 99.990. Wind speed also out around 10 km. (BB)
122	June 8 20^h	19720	0.64	ps.gz	0.69	gif 1, gif 2
121	June 8 14^h	19182	0.26	ps.gz	0.29	gif 1, gif 2
120	June 7 16^h	18979	0.62	ps.gz	0.68	gif 1, gif 2		Oddities at 8535 m. (BB)
119	June 5 15^h	7235	2.69	ps.gz	2.95	gif 1, gif 2
118	June 1 14^h					gif 1, gif 2		Az & El readings to to 9999 at 5935 m. Beyond that, ascent rate starts to slowly increase, and altitude readings go to 55000 m! Altitudes not believable - if we want to use this data, we'll likely have to recompute altitude if we can from pressure. It appears what happened was the temperature sensor dropped out. It goes to -11.03 at 6000 m, and stays there all the way up. This is why altitude is messed up, since the geopotential altitude uses the temperature. (BB)

116	April 13 5^h	5544	1.30	ps.gz				Very short flight??? (BB)

1999

Flight	UT Launch Date* & Data	Analysis			Type 5A Sonde Serial Number	Comments
Flight	UT Launch Date* & Data	NRAO	ESO	Cornell	Type 5A Sonde Serial Number	Comments

114	November 12 14^h	ps.gz		gif	99020316C30
113	November 11 13^h	ps.gz	gif 1, gif 2	gif	99011916C41
111	November 10 18^h	ps.gz	gif 1, gif 2	gif	99012615B62
110	November 10 12^h	ps.gz	gif 1, gif 2	gif	99012814D55
109	November 10 9^h	ps.gz	gif 1, gif 2	gif	99020316C55
108	November 10 4^h	ps.gz	gif 1, gif 2	gif	99012814C00
107	November 10 0^h	ps.gz	gif 1, gif 2	gif	99012116C34?	Serial number uncertain; logbook inconsistent. (SR)
105	November 9 18^h	ps.gz	gif 1, gif 2	gif
104	November 9 15^h	ps.gz	gif 1, gif 2	gif	99111016C04
102	November 9 13^h	ps.gz	gif 1, gif 2	gif	98111016D39?	Serial number uncertain; logbook incomplete. (SR)
98	November 8 19^h	ps.gz	gif 1, gif 2	gif	98111016D30
97	November 8 13^h	ps.gz	gif 1, gif 2	gif	98111016D10
96	November 8 9^h	ps.gz	gif 1, gif 2	gif
95	November 8 4^h	ps.gz	gif 1, gif 2	gif	98110712D32
92	November 8 0^h	ps.gz	gif 1, gif 2	gif	9811?	Serial number uncertain; logbook incomplete. (SR)
91	November 7 19^h	ps.gz	gif 1, gif 2	gif
88	November 7 18^h	ps.gz		gif
87	November 7 12^h	ps.gz	gif 1, gif 2	gif	98092610C10
86	November 7 10^h	ps.gz	gif 1, gif 2	gif	98092610B32
85	November 7 4^h	ps.gz	gif 1, gif 2	gif	98092610B53
84	November 7 1^h	ps.gz	gif 1, gif 2	gif	98111016D07
82	November 6 18^h	ps.gz	gif 1, gif 2	gif
78	November 6 12^h	ps.gz		gif	98092514B36
77	November 6 9^h	ps.gz	gif 1, gif 2	gif	98092610A60
76	November 6 4^h	ps.gz	gif 1, gif 2	gif	99110604DA7?	or 99110604D47? (SR)
75	November 6 1^h	ps.gz	gif 1, gif 2	gif
74	November 5 18^h	ps.gz	gif 1, gif 2	gif	98092610A58	Serial number uncertain; logbook incomplete. (SR)
73	November 5 16^h	ps.gz	gif 1, gif 2	gif
69	November 5 10^h	ps.gz	gif 1, gif 2	gif	98092610A57	San Pedro launch
68	November 5 0^h	ps.gz	gif 1, gif 2	gif		San Pedro launch
67	November 4 12^h	ps.gz		gif	98092514A23
64	November 4 10^h	ps.gz			98092610848?	or 98092610B48? (SR) Premature software abort.
60	November 4 9^h	ps.gz			99020316C02	Premature software abort
56	November 4 2^h	ps.gz		gif	99020316B46
54	November 3 19^h	ps.gz		gif

53	March 14 15^h	ps.gz	gif 1, gif 2	gif
52	March 10 18^h	ps.gz	gif 1, gif 2	gif
51	March 9 15^h	ps.gz	gif 1, gif 2	gif
44	March 6 15^h	ps.gz		gif		To 19437 m. (BB)
43	March 4 15^h	ps.gz		gif		To 18838 m. (BB)

42	February 17 18^h	ps.gz		gif

1998

Flight	UT Launch Date* & Data	Analysis			Type 5A Sonde Serial Number	Comments
Flight	UT Launch Date* & Data	NRAO	ESO	Cornell	Type 5A Sonde Serial Number	Comments

41	December 12 5^h	ps.gz		gif
40	December 11 23^h	ps.gz		gif
39	December 11 15^h	ps.gz		gif
37	December 11 5^h	ps.gz		gif
36	December 10 23^h	ps.gz		gif
35	December 10 15^h	ps.gz		gif
34	December 10 5^h	ps.gz		gif
33	December 9 23^h	ps.gz		gif
32	December 9 15^h	ps.gz		gif
31	December 9 5^h	ps.gz		gif
30	December 8 22^h	ps.gz		gif
29	December 8 5^h	ps.gz		gif
28	December 7 23^h	ps.gz		gif
27	December 7 14^h	ps.gz		gif
26	December 7 5^h	ps.gz		gif
25	December 6 23^h	ps.gz		gif
24	December 5 23^h	ps.gz		gif
23	December 5 15^h	ps.gz		gif

22	November 27 20^h	ps.gz	gif 1, gif 2	gif	98073115C50
21	November 27 15^h	ps.gz	gif 1, gif 2	gif	98080109C09
20	November 26 21^h	ps.gz	gif 1, gif 2	gif	98073115A30
19	November 26 15^h	ps.gz	gif 1, gif 2	gif	98080109A35
18	November 25 21^h	ps.gz	gif 1, gif 2	gif	98080109B44
17	November 25 16^h	ps.gz	gif 1, gif 2	gif	98080109A54
15	November 24 23^h	ps.gz	gif 1, gif 2	gif	98080109B33
14	November 24 16^h	ps.gz	gif 1, gif 2		98073115A24
13	November 24 11^h	ps.gz	gif 1, gif 2	gif		Tracking problems
12	November 24 5^h	ps.gz	gif 1, gif 2	gif	98080109C10

11	October 25 21^h	ps.gz	gif 1, gif 2	gif
10	October 25 12^h	ps.gz	gif 1, gif 2	gif
8	October 24 14^h	ps.gz	gif 1, gif 2	gif
7	October 12 18^h	ps.gz	gif 1, gif 2	gif
6	October 12 2^h	ps.gz	gif 1, gif 2	gif
5	October 11 16^h	ps.gz	gif 1, gif 2	gif
4	October 11 3^h	ps.gz	gif 1, gif 2	gif
3	October 10 3^h	ps.gz	gif 1, gif 2	gif	98073107B61
2	October 9 17^h	ps.gz	gif 1, gif 2	gif	98073107B32

3†	August 31 22^h	ps.gz				Tucson test flight
2†	August 21 15^h	ps.gz				Tucson test flight

† Duplicate flight numbers.
* Nominal launch times indicate start of flight software. Actual launch times recorded in data files may be later.

The data are in text format, the analysis plots in gif or compressed postscript (ps.gz). Missing flight numbers were ground tests or aborts. Notes by Bryan Butler (BB), Simon Radford (SR) and others.

Sonde serial numbers

Vaisala: The radiosonde serial numbers are assigned when the sensor packs are calibrated. The numbers encode the calibration date and other information. Prior to 1995 October, the RS-80 serial number code was:

DDMMYTTPP, where

  DD = day of the month (1-31)
  MM = month (1-12) + facility identifier (00, 20, 40, or 80)
   Y = last digit of the year     
  TT = calibration tray identifier
  PP = position in calibration tray

More recent RS-80 radiosonde serial numbers are coded:

YWWDTTTNN, where

   Y = last digit of the year
  WW = week number (1-52)
   D = day of the week (1-7) Monday=1
 TTT = calibration tray identifer
  NN = position in calibration tray

RS-90 radiosondes are coded:

YWWDSSSS, where

   Y = alphabetic code for the year (T=1998, U=1999, etc.)
  WW = week number (1-52)
   D = day of the week (1-7) Monday=1
SSSS = sequence number

[Notes from the DOE Atmospheric Radiation Measurment Program, Balloon-Borne Sounding System, radisonde FAQs.]

AIR: Model IS-5A-1680 The radiosonde serial numbers are apparently coded as:

YYMMDDxxaxx, where

   YY = last digits of the year (80 for 2000)     
   MM = month (1-12)
   DD = day of the month (1-31)
xxaxx = sequence number

Last modified 2003 December 30

Simon Radford