The variation of the GPS dropwindsonde drag coefficient and its impact on the wind retrieval from dropwindsonde measurements

The wind finding equations currently used to retrieve horizontal winds from Global Positioning System dropwindsonde wind measurements are derived based on a point object model in which the drag coefficient of the dropwindsonde is assumed to be a constant. The wind tunnel tests performed as part of this study showed, however, that the dropwindsonde aerodynamic coefficients vary appreciably with angles of attack. To investigate the impact of this finding, the dropwindsonde motion in a pseudo-stochastic wind field has been simulated using a motion model more sophisticated than the point object model. The results showed that, although the constant drag coefficient assumption is not supported by the wind tunnel test results, the wind finding equations still correctly calculate both the mean and the turbulence intensity profiles. In addition, a revised method to calculate the vertical wind was proposed based on the derivation of the improved motion model, which enhanced the accuracy of vertical wind estimates by including the real-time dropwindsonde drag coefficient and the dropwindsonde vertical acceleration into calculation.