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Sippican 1
Mon Sep 20, 2004
Listen in RealAudio 
Curran: My name is Tom Curran. I’m the marketing manager for Sippican, Inc. from
Marion, Mass. We are a manufacturer of meteorological and oceanographic
equipment.
One of the pieces of equipment Tom Curran is talking about, is a radiosonde. Hi, I’m
Bryan Yeaton, and this is The Weather Notebook.
Curran: A radiosonde is a balloon-borne instrument which measures pressure,
temperature, humidity, wind speed and wind direction from the surface of the heights
of approximately 100,000 feet. The data from these radiosondes is one of the primary
inputs to all the global meteorological models.
According to Curran, the radiosonde’s ancestors were crude devices flown on kites in
the 1700s. The kites were then reeled in to check the readings from various altitudes.
Later, instruments were carried by scientists in early hot air balloons.
Curran finds it interesting that people are fascinated by the balloon, but most have
never heard of the complicated package attached underneath.
Curran: Many people have heard about weather balloons but they don’t understand that
there’s an instrument attached to that weather balloon.
Yeah, we always talk about launching a weather balloon but not about launching a
radiosonde.
Curran: Right. Exactly. The word "sond" - s-o-n-d – means sound – to sound the
atmosphere. If you look at all the people who do modeling and things, they still look at
radiosonde data in addition to the satellite measurements and the radar
measurements. It is a low-cost device and it doesn’t look too sophisticated – but when
you consider it as transmitting data for 120 miles over extreme atmospheric
conditions, it is a very unique piece of equipment.
To see what a radiosonde looks like, log on to our website: www.weathernotebook.org.
You can also check out all of our past shows. The Weather Notebook is funded by
Subaru of America and the National Science Foundation.
Today's Links
Sippican - radiosonde:
http://www.sippican.com/contentmgr/showdetails.php/id/306
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