The Pan American Climate Studies Sounding Network (PACS-SONET) Recent history and planned improvements

During the past several years a special atmospheric sounding network has been operated in Latin America as part of a climate research program supported by the Pan American Climate Studies (PACS) program of the NOAA Office of Global Programs. This network, known as the PACS-SOunding NETwork (SONET), has involved pilot balloon observations at as many at 18 locations from southern Mexico to Bolivia.

The PACS-SONET is now entering a second phase, where several major improvements are anticipated. The first improvement will be a renewed emphasis to transmit the observations in real-time, so that the information can be used for weather forecasting activities, as well as real-time diagnosis of the network operation. Most observations were not received in real-time during the first two years of PACS-SONET, due to the emphasis on the research nature of the activity. The second major improvement to the network is anticipated through the use of recoverable radiosonde technology. Small model aircraft or recoverable gliders lifted by balloons will be increasingly used to make radiosonde observations at high-priority sites throughout the PACS-SONET domain. It is anticipated that these systems will be supportable by their host meteorological services far into the future, so that reliable time series of temperature and humidity profiles can be obtained, in addition to the more frequent wind profiles obtained from the pilot balloon component of the network.

This talk will describe the recent evolution of the PACS-SONET, and also where new expansions are planned in northwestern Mexico and in south central South America. Data from field trials of the new recoverable radiosonde systems will also be shown. Implications of the PACS-SONET for the design of affordable climate and weather monitoring networks elsewhere in the world will be mentioned.