Drop probe
A drop probe is a weather reconnaissance probe that is dropped from an aircraft into an area with tropical storm conditions to measure various weather data in the area. Measured parameters are temperature , air humidity and air pressure . The weather probe can determine its position using a GPS receiver. The collected data is transmitted to the aircraft or to the ground station.
The probe was developed by the National Center for Atmospheric Research in the USA .
construction
There is a small parachute at the top of the probe . This keeps the actual functional part of the probe in the air. The functional part is surrounded by a metal jacket as a protective cover. The following devices are located in a drop probe: GPS antenna, GPS receiver, pressure sensor , thermometer , humidity sensor and a microprocessor . The probe is the case of a battery with power supplied.
Course of a flight
The aircraft is being steered into the storm area. The probe is dropped at a height of approx. 3000 m. The probe transmits the location and time of the drop to the crew of the aircraft. During the descent, a small parachute stabilizes the probe and slows down its rate of descent. As a result, the probe can collect different data at different altitudes before it hits the earth's surface.