Systematic Differences in Aircraft and Radiosonde Temperatures

Ballish, Bradley Alan; Kumar, V. Sanil

doi:10.1175/2008bams2332.1

Cited by 62 publications

(69 citation statements)

References 21 publications

(18 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The results indicate that AMDAR temperatures are 0.328C colder than radiosonde observations. However, the earlier studies (Zhu et al 2015;Ballish and Kumar 2008;Benjamin and Moninger 2016) indicated that aircraft temperature observations are on average warmer than radiosonde observations. This difference will be discussed below.…”

Section: ) Overall Resultsmentioning

confidence: 92%

“…results given by Benjamin and Moninger (2016), who show that the biases of U.S. aircraft from rawinsonde are negative near the surface and then become positive in the mid-to upper troposphere (600-150 hPa). Benjamin and Moninger (2016) have summarized other research results (Zhu et al 2015;Ballish and Kumar 2008) that indicated that aircraft temperature observations are on average warmer than radiosonde observations in the upper troposphere.…”

Section: ) Rmsd Dependence On Separationmentioning

confidence: 90%

“…They found that the standard deviation was 0.59 K for temperature and 2.84 m s 21 for wind speed within a spatial range of #25 km and a temporal window of #15 min. Ballish and Kumar (2008) found an overall positive bias in aircraft temperature observations when compared to radiosonde observations. Meanwhile, systematic differences in temperature observations exist between different aircraft types (Drüe et al 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 86%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Evaluation of Accuracy of Chinese AMDAR Data for 2015

Ding

Zhuge

et al. 2018

Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Two comparative studies have been performed to evaluate the accuracy of Chinese Aircraft Meteorological Data Relay (AMDAR) weather reports. The comparison between AMDAR reports and radiosonde observations shows that the root-mean-square differences (RMSDs) in temperature, wind speed, and wind direction are 1.068C, 1.95 m s 21 , and 228, respectively, within a spatial range of #20 km and a temporal window of #15 min. The comparison between AMDAR reports collected by different aircraft reveals that observation uncertainties in temperature, wind speed, and wind direction are 0.598C, 0.90 m s 21 , and 128, respectively.The spatial and temporal representativeness as well as the environmental factors that may affect the evaluation results are also discussed in detail in the two comparative studies. The results of the present study provide valuable information on and high confidence in the application of Chinese AMDAR in numerical weather prediction models.

show abstract

Section: ) Overall Resultsmentioning

confidence: 92%

Section: ) Rmsd Dependence On Separationmentioning

confidence: 90%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 86%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Evaluation of Accuracy of Chinese AMDAR Data for 2015

Ding

Zhuge

et al. 2018

Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Ballish and Kumar (2008) showed that the temperatures from passenger aircraft are warm-biased at cruise altitude (200-300 hPa). This has not been accounted for in ERA-I.…”

Section: Possible Sources Of the Differing Temperature Trendsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Petersen (2016) showed that at flight level the errors of temperature and wind in the 3-48 h forecast were reduced by nearly 50 % when assimilating data from passenger aircraft. However, Ballish and Kumar (2008) and Drüe et al (2008) identified that the AMDAR aircraft temperature is strongly affected by a warm bias, which can fluctuate by altitude, aircraft type, and phase of flight, while the reason for this bias is not fully understood (Ingleby et al, 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

In situ temperature measurements in the upper troposphere and lowermost stratosphere from 2 decades of IAGOS long-term routine observation

et al. 2017

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract. Despite several studies on temperature trends in the tropopause region, a comprehensive understanding of the evolution of temperatures in this climate-sensitive region of the atmosphere remains elusive. Here we present a unique global-scale, long-term data set of high-resolution in situ temperature data measured aboard passenger aircraft within the European Research Infrastructure IAGOS (In-service Aircraft for a Global Observing System; http: //www.iagos.org). This data set is used to investigate temperature trends within the global upper troposphere and lowermost stratosphere (UTLS, < 13 km) for the period of 1995-2012 in different geographical regions and vertical layers of the UTLS. The largest number of observations is available over the North Atlantic. Here, a neutral temperature trend is found within the lowermost stratosphere. This contradicts the temperature trend in the European Centre for MediumRange Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) ERA-Interim reanalysis, in which a significant (95 % confidence) temperature increase of +0.56 K decade −1 is found. Differences between trends derived from observations and reanalysis data can be traced back to changes in the temperature difference between observation and model data over the period studied. This study underpins the value of the IAGOS temperature observations as an anchor point for the evaluation of reanalyses and its suitability for independent trend analyses.

show abstract

Comparing diagnosed observation uncertainties with independent estimates: A case study using aircraft‐based observations and a convection‐permitting data assimilation system

Mirza

Dance

Rooney

et al. 2021

Atmospheric Science Letters

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Aircraft can report in situ observations of the ambient temperature by using aircraft meteorological data relay (AMDAR) or these can be derived using modeselect enhanced tracking data (Mode-S EHS). These observations may be assimilated into numerical weather prediction models to improve the initial conditions for forecasts. The assimilation process weights the observation according to the expected uncertainty in its measurement and representation. The goal of this paper is to compare observation uncertainties diagnosed from data assimilation statistics with independent estimates. To quantify these independent estimates, we use metrological comparisons, made with in-situ research-grade instruments, as well as previous studies using collocation methods between aircraft (mostly AMDAR reports) and other observing systems such as radiosondes. In this study we diagnose a new estimate of the vertical structure of the uncertainty variances using observation-minus-background and observation-minus-analysis statistics from a Met Office limited area three-dimensional variational data assimilation system (3 km horizontal grid-length, 3-hourly cycle). This approach for uncertainty estimation is simple to compute but has several limitations. Nevertheless, the resulting diagnosed variances have a vertical structure that is like that provided by the independent estimates of uncertainty. This provides confidence in the uncertainty estimation method, and in the diagnosed uncertainty estimates themselves. In the future our methodology, along with other results, could provide ways to estimate the uncertainty for the assimilation of aircraft-based temperature observations.

show abstract

Systematic Differences in Aircraft and Radiosonde Temperatures

Abstract: Automated aircraft temperatures exhibit considerable variance with aircraft models and on average they are warmerthan radiosonde temperatures; therefore, field studies and bias corrections for NWP models are recommended.

Cited by 62 publications

References 21 publications

Evaluation of Accuracy of Chinese AMDAR Data for 2015

Evaluation of Accuracy of Chinese AMDAR Data for 2015

In situ temperature measurements in the upper troposphere and lowermost stratosphere from 2 decades of IAGOS long-term routine observation

Comparing diagnosed observation uncertainties with independent estimates: A case study using aircraft‐based observations and a convection‐permitting data assimilation system

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About