Development of an automated pump-efficiency measuring system for ozonesondes utilizing an airbag-type flowmeter

Abstract

We report here on a system developed to automatically measure the flow rate characteristics (i.e., the pump efficiency) of pumps on ozonesondes under various pressure levels simulating upper-air conditions. The system consists of a flow measurement unit incorporating a polyethylene airbag, a pressure control unit that reproduces low-pressure environmental conditions, and a control unit that integrates and controls these elements to enable fully automatic measurement. The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) has operationally measured pump efficiency for electrochemical concentration cell (ECC) ozonesondes using the system since 2009, resulting in a significant amount of related data. Extensive measurements collected for the same ozonesonde pump over a period of around 12 years indicate the long-term stability of the system's performance. These long-term data also show that ozonesonde pump flow characteristics differed among production lots. Evaluation of the impacts of variance in these characteristics on observed ozone concentration data indicated that the influence on total ozone estimation was up to approximately 4%, the standard deviation per lot was approximately 1%, and the standard deviation among lots was approximately 0.6%.