Chapter 2 - Upper air observation and remote sensing

Abstract

Radiosonde observations provide the most accurate upper air climate observations up to approximately 30km height above the sea level. The spatial distribution of radiosonde observation stations over the Earth is very uneven; therefore, meteorological satellite and airplane observations are involved in the upper air observations. Geostationary and Sun synchronous satellites contribute in various ways to the Earth climate observations, and they are the main tools, e.g., for cloud image, radiation budget, sea surface temperature, sea surface wind, and snow and ice cover extent observations. The signals of the global navigation satellite system are used to the observation of atmospheric total water content, and together with radiosonde signals to upper air wind observations. Meteorological radars are used to the observation of thunderstorm, precipitation intensity, melting level and icing danger in the atmosphere, and area average precipitation. Specific tools for near surface observations are also discussed.