Newly developed radiosonde for precipitation particle electric charge measurement
05 Oct 2026
Developments in Earth System Measurements and Technologies
Emerging measurement technologies and integrated observing approaches
To understand heavy rain and lightning, it is essential to measure the electric charge of precipitation particles within rain clouds. We newly developed a balloon‑borne sensor “EC-sonde” that detects charged particles, measures polarity and voltage, and transmits data in real time. As a result of test flights into snow clouds conducted in January 2026, we successfully obtained vertical profiles of electric charge of particle information from EC-sonde.









