Upper Air Soundings at Koldewey
Upper air soundings are carried out routinely once a day normally between 10 and 12 UTC. They include profile measurements of pressure, temperature, relative humidity and wind vector. About once a week additional an ozone profile is retrieved as well. Usually the profiles start at the ground (11 m above sea level) and end between 25 and 37 km.
For the routine soundings VAISALA RS92 radiosondes are used, carried by helium-filled balloons (TOTEX TX600 or TX800). The data is coded (FM35-Temp) and transferred directly to the Global Telecommunication System (GTS) where they contribute to weather forecasting.
To obtain the ozone profiles an additional ozone sensor (VAISALA, ECC6A) is attached to the radiosonde. The wind vector is determined with the aid of the GPS navigation system. Data reception and evaluation are carried out by a DigiCora System (VAISALA).
Time-height sections at Koldewey 1994
You can also take a look at the ozone soundings taken at Sodankylä (67.4° N, 26.7° E) in the Finnish Arctic, slightly north from the Arctic Circle.
Archiving and Retrieving Data
At Alfred Wegener Institute the upper air soundings are archived together with the routine synoptic weather observation and surface radiation and mast measurements in a relational database (SYBASE). Daily upper air soundings are available since 1 July 1991. Actual soundings normally reach the database once a month.
Please contact Siegrid Debatin or Roland Neuber for retrieving data.