1. Upper air Meteorological charts

2. European radiosonde stations (launch 00 and 12 UTC)
Vaisala RS80
Vaisala RS92
European radiosonde stations (launch 00 and 12 UTC)
Launching a
radiosonde
Data available from:

3. Upper air
Radiosondes measure vertical profiles of temperature, pressure, humidity and wind

4. Upper air
Radiosondes measure vertical profiles of temperature, pressure, humidity and wind
Satellites measure similar profiles but with lower resolution

5. Upper air
Radiosondes measure vertical profiles of temperature, pressure, humidity and wind
Satellites measure similar profiles but with lower resolution
When assimilated into a model, these measurements allow us to construct a chart at any height in the atmosphere

6. Upper air
Radiosondes measure vertical profiles of temperature, pressure, humidity and wind
Satellites measure similar profiles but with lower resolution
When assimilated into a model, these measurements allow us to construct a chart at any height in the atmosphere
By convention these charts are drawn at constant pressure rather than height

7. 500 mb and thickness chart White lines: surface pressure, mb
Colours denote the thickness of the layer of atmosphere between 1000 and 500 mb. It is proportional to the mean temperature of this layer.
So blue is cold air, red is hot air
Black lines: height of 500 mb surface, in dekametres (tens of m)

8. Wind barbs
Wind is in knots – 1 knot = 0.5 ms-1. The arrow points along the wind direction. This symbol is called a wind barb.

9. Surface chart. Note how winds at sea tend to follow isobars (we will met this geostrophic relationship later

10. 300 mb,
~ 9 km
700 mb,
~ 3 km
Smoother patterns than at the surface; fronts not marked on these charts
700 and 300 mb charts show a similar pattern – synoptic scale features are generally coherent throughout the troposphere. That is, vertical scale of synoptic-scale features ~ 10 km
Winds closer to geostrophic over land – no surface friction
Very strong winds at 300 mb denote the jet stream. Jet stream is related to fronts, either at the surface or in the upper troposphere.