Measuring refractivity profiles in the marine environment using radiosondes launched with a pneumatic line thrower

Abstract

In this paper we introduce a novel method to measure refractivity profiles in the lowest 40 meters of the atmosphere using the radiosonde Vaisala RS92-SGP and a pneumatic line thrower. We show that the radiosonde's measurement accuracy is maintained after launch, and we present refractivity profiles from two sea trials. The results show that we are able to do high resolution refractivity measurements using the proposed method. The derived evaporation duct heights (EDH) from the refractivity profiles are compared to the EDH estimated with the Paulus-Jeske (PJ) model and the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) model. The measured EDH differs from the EDH calculated with the PJ and NPS models in both stable and unstable conditions with low wind speeds.