# Tag Info

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Skew-T Log-P diagrams can be plotted in most mathmatics software. I have seen examples in Matlab (and by proxy Octave), GrADS, NCL, IDL and I have my own code in Python that generates Skew-T plots. There are also some programs such as NSHARP and BUFKIT that are more full featured. You can also find websites that plot forecast soundings such as twisterdata ...

7

Your screenshot lists the raob as station 72357 on 2013-06-01 00Z. Station 72357 is OUN and the sounding for that day time is available at the SPC sounding archive. The SPC sounding analysis shows 3351 J kg$^{-1}$ CAPE and -76 J kg$^{-1}$ CIN for surface parcels. My speculation for your anomolous non-physical values of CAPE and CIN is that the algorithm ...

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The reason is that we need them! And we could probably do with more of them (e.g. bigger launch budgets). Surface observations will tell us where fronts are, where low and high pressure is, and how surface temperature and moisture are being advected. We can also deduce large scale ascent or descent (vertical motion) from surface divergence and convergence....

7

The weight of a balloon determines most of its specifications, though I'm not sure if they are generalized or specific to a manufacturer. Looking at one supplier we can get a feel for what you need. For a 1 kg payload it looks like you'd want a minimum of a 1200g balloon. According to the site linked, this 1200g balloon will have: 6.0 ft diameter at ...

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The lifting condensation level (LCL) is the level at which a rising particle reaches 100 % relative humidity by adiabatic cooling. Please have a look at Wikipedia: LCL and LFC (level of free convection!).

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The LCL is the "lifted" level at which mechanical lifting mechanisms (frontal/dynamic or orographic) must raise a parcel to reach its dew point temperature, 100% relative humidity or saturation by adiabatic cooling. Alternatively, when a parcel of air is lifted due to heating from below, the parcel must rise to the convective condensation level (CCL) to ...

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The atmosphere is dynamic both horizontally and vertically. You cannot provide services like weather forecasts without a true measurement of the atmospheric conditions in the troposphere and stratosphere across the globe. Satellite retrievals also rely upon measured vertical profiles for calibration of the final products. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

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Forecasts that incorporate the 3-dimensional structure of the atmosphere are more accurate than those that only use the surface structure.

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Looking for similar for another recent question, I stumbled across https://www.sparc-climate.org/data-centre/data-access/fisaps/ which lists quite a few options on HVRRD (high vertical resolution radiosonde data) Looks like a lot to sift through, but if your project can work for past data over the US, I found that from ftp://ftp.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/ua/rrs-...

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First, yes, DM does appear to be decameters (though Dm would be more proper). D was actually the abbreviation I was taught for deca in grade school 20 years ago, but it appears da has become the official standard prefix now, perhaps because it was confused with deci (d). They also list the spelling deka instead of deca as well, perhaps for similar reasons (...

1

I have contacted Dr. Larry Oolman, who is in-charge of the weather data provided at http://www.weather.uwyo.edu/upperair/sounding.html, regarding this issue and he has informed me that several countries have started using a new binary format which usually contains higher resolution data. He further added that there is a new site for these new sounding data, ...

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As already commented; a good indicator for rain in soundings is that the lower troposphere is saturated by water. Individual saturated levels would imply moisture, but if the moisture doesn't reach the surface then it maybe just clouds or rain that evaporates before reaching surface (virga). The deeper the saturated layer, the better indicator for rain it is....

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Assuming you want to plot a diagram with your computer, the RAOB Program is the most versatile Skew-T plotting program available. It's easy to use and fully menu driven.

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