Instruments
A thermometer in a louvred box, and everything after it.
The Stevenson Screen
Louvred wood, white paint, a specified height: the point is to measure air rather than sunshine, and the design has barely changed.
The radiosonde ascent
A balloon rises for around ninety minutes until the latex gives way at roughly thirty kilometres, transmitting all the way up.
Anemometers, and Robinson's cups
Four cups on a spindle turn at a rate related to wind speed — a relationship that turned out to be less simple than its inventor believed, and had to be calibrated rather than derived.
The Buoys Nobody Visits
Most of the planet is ocean, so most observation is unattended and has to survive years without maintenance.
What satellites cannot see
A satellite measures radiance, not temperature, and turning one into the other is a calculation with assumptions in it.
The Station Plot
Eight or nine numbers, one small diagram: how every dot on a synoptic chart carries the whole atmosphere on its back.
The Aircraft That Report
The busiest instrument network in the atmosphere is also the one nobody designed.
Every piece in Instruments
The same set as a list, for reading rather than browsing.
- The Stevenson ScreenLongLouvred wood, white paint, a specified height: the point is to measure air rather than sunshine, and the design has barely changed.
- The radiosonde ascentLongA balloon rises for around ninety minutes until the latex gives way at roughly thirty kilometres, transmitting all the way up.
- Anemometers, and Robinson's cupsMediumFour cups on a spindle turn at a rate related to wind speed — a relationship that turned out to be less simple than its inventor believed, and had to be calibrated rather than derived.
- The Buoys Nobody VisitsMediumMost of the planet is ocean, so most observation is unattended and has to survive years without maintenance.
- What satellites cannot seeMediumA satellite measures radiance, not temperature, and turning one into the other is a calculation with assumptions in it.
- The Station PlotMediumEight or nine numbers, one small diagram: how every dot on a synoptic chart carries the whole atmosphere on its back.
- The Aircraft That ReportShortThe busiest instrument network in the atmosphere is also the one nobody designed.