Radiosondes KMI-IRM
We received following question, from KMI-IRM:"As most of you know, the Royal Meteorlogical Institute of Belgium (KMI-IRM) is launching 3 times a week radiosondes coupled to ozonesondes from its site at Uccle. With these measurements, we monitor the ozone layer above Belgium and the meteorological data are used to constrain the numerical weather models that provide a weather forecast. Other than the radiosondes, the ozonesondes can be re-used several times, if they pass our quality check and calibration tests. That's why are really keen on having the ozonesondes (instruments in isolating box) been returned to us; you can keep the radiosondes if you want. On top of the box cover, there is a little note with instructions for the procedure. Of course, the costs for returning are refunded by the RMI, and we also grant you an extra reward. Unfortunately, these last months, very few ozonesondes are sent back to us, although we got noticed that they have been found. As we rely on a certain amount of returned ozonesonde to keep our measurement time series up and running, we would therefore ask you to return our ozonesondes you found on a regular basis, instead of building up a stock before sending them back to us (as some of your colleagues use(d) to do). We are very grateful to you and your contribution to our ozone and weather research and we are also considering to develop interactive communication channels with you (e.g. Google form on a subpage of our website) to ease our collaboration in this respect. If you have any ideas or feedback on this, I would be also happy to hear about it!"
