Editing Radiosonde (section)

== Uses of upper air observations ==
Raw upper air data is routinely processed by supercomputers running numerical models. Forecasters often view the data in a graphical format, plotted on [[thermodynamic diagrams]] such as [[Skew-T log-P diagram]]s, [[Tephigram]]s, and or [[Stüve diagram]]s, all useful for the interpretation of the atmosphere's vertical [[thermodynamics]] profile of temperature and moisture as well as [[kinematics]] of vertical wind profile.<ref name="radio2022"/>

Radiosonde data is a crucially important component of numerical weather prediction. Because a sonde may drift several hundred kilometers during the 90- to 120-minute flight, there may be concern that this could introduce problems into the model initialization. <ref name="radio2022" /> However, this appears not to be so except perhaps locally in [[jet stream]] regions in the stratosphere.<ref>{{cite journal|first1=Ray|last1=McGrath|first2=Tido|last2=Semmler|first3=Conor|last3=Sweeney |first4=Shiyu|last4=Wang|date=15 Jul 2006|title=Impact of Balloon Drift Errors in Radiosonde Data on Climate Statistics |journal=Journal of Climate|volume=19|issue=14|pages=3430–3442|doi=10.1175/JCLI3804.1|bibcode=2006JCli...19.3430M |doi-access=free}}</ref> This issue may in future be solved by [[Weather drone|weather drones]], which have precise control over their location and can compensate for drift.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Bell |first1=Tyler M. |last2=Greene |first2=Brian R. |last3=Klein |first3=Petra M. |last4=Carney |first4=Matthew |last5=Chilson |first5=Phillip B. |date=2020-07-16 |title=Confronting the boundary layer data gap: evaluating new and existing methodologies of probing the lower atmosphere |url=https://amt.copernicus.org/articles/13/3855/2020/ |journal=Atmospheric Measurement Techniques |language=English |volume=13 |issue=7 |pages=3855–3872 |doi=10.5194/amt-13-3855-2020 |bibcode=2020AMT....13.3855B |issn=1867-1381|doi-access=free }}</ref>

Lamentably, in less developed parts of the globe such as Africa, which has high vulnerability to impacts of extreme weather events and climate change, there is paucity of surface- and upper-air observations. The alarming state of the issue was highlighted in 2020 by the [[World Meteorological Organisation]]<ref>{{cite news |title=The gaps in the Global Basic Observing Network (GBON) |url=https://library.wmo.int/doc_num.php?explnum_id=10377}}</ref> which stated that "the situation in Africa shows a dramatic decrease of almost 50% from 2015 to 2020 in the number of radiosonde flights, the most important type of surface-based observations. Reporting now has poorer geographical coverage". Over the last two decades, some 82% of the countries in Africa have experienced severe (57%) and moderate (25%) radiosonde data gap.<ref name="radio2022" /> This dire situation has prompted call for urgent need to fill the data gap in Africa and globally. The vast data gap in such a large part the global landmass, home to some of the most vulnerable societies, the aforementioned call has galvanised a global effort<ref>{{cite news |title=How plugging data gaps will transform our response to climate change |url=https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3154116/cop26-how-plugging-data-gaps-will-transform-our-response-climate |work=South China Morning Post |date=31 October 2021 |language=en}}</ref> to “plug the data gap” in the decade ahead and halt a further deterioration in the observation networks.