Abstract

The main in-situ data base for numerical weather prediction currently relies on radiosonde and airliner observations, with large data gaps above the oceans and in polar regions. These gaps might possibly be patched by measurements with drones, which provide a significant improvement towards environment friendly additional data, but so far have not been regarded as a feasible alternative of performing measurements in the upper troposphere. In this report, the development of a system that is capable of sounding the atmosphere under Antarctic and mid-European conditions is presented. After an assessment of the environmental conditions, the design of the system and the measurements are presented, including the process to get permissions for such flight tests in Europe. The feasibility of reaching an altitude of 10 km with a small meteorologically equipped drone is shown, and the first data are compared to radiosonde measurements. The article closes with an outlook on the potential use of drones for filling data gaps in the troposphere.

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