A dropsonde is a weather reconnaissance device designed to be dropped from an airplane or similar craft at altitude to take telemetry as it falls to the ground. It typically relays information to a computer in the dropping airplane by radio. The fall may be slowed by a parachute. Information collected by a typical dropsonde may include wind speed, temperature, humidity, and pressure.

Dropsondes are one of the main ways of getting the weather data that is fed into the supercomputer weather simulations used to track and predict large storms.

External links

• http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/nhurr97/GPSNDW.HTM
• http://www.atd.ucar.edu/rtf/facilities/dropsonde/
• http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/internet/09/16/hurricane.supercomputers.ap/index.html