Comparison of Radar and Navaid Windfinding Systems

Abstract

During the Storm Transfer and Response Experiment, radiosondes were simultaneously tracked by radar and Navaid windfinding systems on the Canadian weathership in the northeast Pacific Ocean. Comparisons have been made for 48 ascents during the period 2 November-13 December 1980. It was found that there was generally good agreement between the wind profiles from the two systems. The mean differences (between components at 1 min intervals after a 4 min running-mean smoothing) varied with height but were usually less than 1 m s?1. Averaged over all data pairs, the differences were about 0.3 m s?1 with a standard deviation of 1.7 m s?1. It was concluded that the two systems compare well within acceptable limits.