Development of the Hydrometeor Videosonde

Abstract

A new special sonde, the hydrometeor videosonde (HYVIS), has been developed to measure the vertical distribution of hydrometeors in clouds. The HYVIS has two small TV cameras that take pictures of hydrometeors (from 7 ?m to 2 cm) collected on a film surface. The HYVIS and a rawinsonde are attached to the same balloon and launched into clouds. They transmit particle images and meteorological data over a 1.6 GHz microwave link to a ground station. The received particle image data are recorded on a VTR and simultaneously displayed on a TV monitor. At the same time meteorological data are printed out from a digital analyzer. Observations have shown that the HYVIS provides high quality images of hydrometeors and is useful for studies of cloud microstructures.