What is a radiosonde? What does it measure and how many times per day are measurements taken?
A radiosonde is a package of instruments launched by a weather balloon into the atmosphere to measure various quantities in the vertical. Temperature, moisture, pressure, wind speed and direction can all be determined and be sent back to the surface via radio transmitter. Balloon launches occur twice per day all over the world. The time of launch at any particular location is that corresponding to 0000 and 1200 Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) – the time at Greenwich, England. 14. Define the Environmental Lapse Rate (ELR), the Dry Adiabatic Lapse Rate (DALR) and Wet Adiabatic Lapse Rate (WALR). When is each (DALR vs. WALR) used? The ELR is the actual change in air temperature with height (measured with radiosonde). Both the DALR and WALR only apply to the parcel. The DALR is used for unsaturated air and its value is 10°C / 1000 m or 5.5°F / 1000 ft (cooling if rising, warming if sinking). This value is constant and never changes. The WALR is used when air is saturated. Since latent heat is re
