Reply on RC3

Abstract

A total of 99 dual soundings with Meisei iMS-100 radiosonde and Vaisala RS92 radiosondes were carried out at Aerological Observatory of the Japan Meteorological Agency, known as Tateno (36.06° N, 140.13° E, 25.2 m; WMO station number 47646), from September 2017 to January 2020. Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) Reference Upper-Air Network (GRUAN) data products (GDP) from both sets of radiosonde data for 57 flights were subsequently created using a documented processing program along with the provision of optimal estimates for measurement uncertainty. Differences in radiosonde performance were then quantified using these GDPs. For daytime observations, the iMS-100 temperature is around 0.5 K lower than RS92-GDP in the stratosphere with significant differences in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere with RS92-GDP in consideration of combined uncertainties. For nighttime observations, the difference is around −0.1 K and data are mostly in agreement. For relative humidity (RH), iMS-100 is around 1–2 %RH higher in the troposphere and 1 %RH smaller in the stratosphere than RS92, but both GDPs are in agreement for most of the profile. The mean pressure difference is ≤ 0.1 hPa, the wind speed difference is from 0.15 m s−1 to 0.01 m s−1, the wind direction difference ≤ 5°, and the root mean square of vector difference (RMSVD) for wind is ≤ 0.72 m s−1.