GLIDERBOOKS Academy Introduces New Advanced Seminar on Soundings
Atmospheric Sounding data provides a pilot with the most detailed description of the state of the atmosphere at a specific location. A sounding is simply a plot of the vertical distribution of the temperature, dew point, wind speed, and wind direction. However, with this information, and the knowledge to interpret it, a glider pilot can determine:
- What type of clouds will be present, if any, and their altitude
- How high thermals will climb
- If there will be thunderstorms in the area
- If mountain wave conditions will exist
In addition, airplane pilots can determine:
- Icing levels
- Smoothest cruising altitudes
- Best cruising altitudes based on wind and direction of flight
If you have always wanted to be able to interpret soundings, but found them to be incomprehensible, this course will help you to understand the phenomena of adiabatic heating/cooling and atmospheric stability, which are the key to understanding the data. You will also learn how to use the Skew T/Log P diagram to determine how the properties of a parcel of air change as it moves up and down in the atmosphere. With this background knowledge, actually interpreting the soundings data will be simple!

