INSTANTANEOUS AND CONTINUOUS WIND MEASUREMENTS UP TO THE HIGHER STRATOSPHERE

Abstract

A method is presented of measuring the wind velocity as actually encountered during a guided missile flight. This wind measurement is instantaneous and continuous. The measuring quantities involved are the velocity vector of the missile relative to the ground (obtained by flight-path tracking), the missile-axis attitude angles (provided by on-board gyros), and the angle of attack (measured by an airflow-direction meter at the missile nose). The basic assumption for the wind determination is an always horizontal wind vector. The method yields wind information to an altitude of 60 kilometers with the presently available instrumentation. The measuring time to this altitude is less than 2½ minutes. Three wind profiles measured at different seasons of the year are presented, with relevant rawinsonde measurements for comparison. Also, the instantaneous vertical wind gradients are derived; they represent true physical quantities, because they are obtained from continuous wind-velocity measurements without averaging.