Estimating the Number of Cloud Layers through Radiosonde Data from Russian Aerological Stations for 1964–2014

Abstract

Radiosonde data are used for the period of 1964–2014 and the method that determines the boundaries and cloud amount based on the profiles of temperature and humidity [23]; long-period statistical characteristics are computed for the cloud layer number for different altitude ranges from the ground to 10 km. The study is performed for the Russian aerological stations located at different latitudes and climate zones. To specify the spatiotemporal features of the atmosphere layering into cloud layers and cloudless layers between them, the estimates of monthly mean, seasonal mean, and annual mean values of cloud layer number as well as of their standard deviations are computed, and the amplitude of their variations is determined. The results qualitatively agree with the data of aircraft-based sounding of the atmosphere as well as with the data of radars and experiments with free balloons.