PYE/SONDE/M1 - Broken RH sensor

One of the RH sensors on this radiosonde was bad.  The RH oscillates rapidly between near 
0 and ambient up to approximately 11 km.  The near-zero values are incorrect.

• Humidity, relative(rh)
• Dewpoint Temperature(dp)

PYE/SONDE/M1 - Bad temperature and RH

The temperature appears to be approximately 10 degC too high during the entire sounding.  
This also causes the RH to be too low.  Most likely the problem was a bad temperature 
sensor.

• Humidity, relative(rh)
• Dry Bulb Temperature(tdry)
• Dewpoint Temperature(dp)

PYE/MWRP/M1 - Bias in Ground Relative Humidity Measurement

On June 17 2005, the MWRP was re-installed at PYE after the Super Blower was replaced by 
the old style dew blower. The relative humidity ground sensor in the dew blower is not as 
accurate. This resulted in a negative relative humidity bias of about 5.9 %. In other 
words the MWRP sensor was underestimating the relative humidity. The bias was determined by 
comparing MWRP measurements with SMET and radiosonde measurements. The MP.cfg file for 
the MWRP was changed to reflect this bias on 09/02/2005 and will take effect on 09/03/2005 
0000 GMT

• AVHRR satellite images for Darwin from BOM (RAW)(raw)

• Density, water vapor, at instrument height (1 or 2 m)(surfaceWaterVaporDensity)
• Humidity, relative, at instrument height (1 or 2 m)(surfaceRelativeHumidity)

PYE/SONDE/M1 - Bad RH sensor

The RH sensor heating circuit failed on this sounding.  RH values during the first part of 
the sounding oscillate between a reasonable value and a very low value.  It appears that 
(a) the heating was out of phase, and (b) incorrect values were being reported during 
the first 10 minutes or so of flight.

• Humidity, relative(rh)
• Dewpoint Temperature(dp)

PYE/SONDE/M1 - Bad RH sensor

Two problems here - failure of the RH sensor heating circuit and a bad RH sensor.

• Humidity, relative(rh)
• Dewpoint Temperature(dp)