The Limiting Accuracy of Wind Profiles Obtained by Tracking Rising Balloons

W. H. Jasperson Research Division, Control Data Corporation, Minneapolis, MN 55440

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Abstract

An experiment has been performed to estimate the limiting accuracy of free atmosphere wind measurements over 100 m layers using 100 g pilot balloons. Errors in the wind measurement due to the tracking system used in this study are found to be only a few centimeters per second. Upper bound estimates of the total rms error in the wind measurement are found to be less than 0.5 m s−1 for wind speed and 0.7 m s−1 for the magnitude of the vector wind velocity.

Abstract

An experiment has been performed to estimate the limiting accuracy of free atmosphere wind measurements over 100 m layers using 100 g pilot balloons. Errors in the wind measurement due to the tracking system used in this study are found to be only a few centimeters per second. Upper bound estimates of the total rms error in the wind measurement are found to be less than 0.5 m s−1 for wind speed and 0.7 m s−1 for the magnitude of the vector wind velocity.

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