The Desirability of Using a Fast Sampling Rate for Computing Wind Velocity from Pilot-Balloon Data

摘要

Advantages of using a fast sampling rate for providing raw data for computing wind velocities from pilot-balloon observations are developed. Two independent approaches showed that (for a given sampling rate) the errors in the mean wind computed through a layer tend to be smaller the larger the layer. However, it is also shown that for a given layer (except for very thin layers), frequent observations through the layer will provide better wind estimates. In addition, graphs are presented which give estimates of relative wind errors as a function of sampling rate and true mean wind speed. (Author)