upper-air sounding

upper-air sounding

[¦əp·ər ¦er ‚sau̇nd·iŋ] (meteorology) upper-air observation

upper-air observation

A measurement of atmospheric conditions aloft, above the effective range of a surface weather observation. Also called sounding and upper-air sounding. This is a general term, but it is usually applied to those observations used in the analysis of upper-air charts (as opposed to measurements of upper-atmospheric quantities primarily for research).