sonde
(sɒnd)
[Fr., ‘sounding-line, sounding’.]
a. A radiosonde or similar device that is sent aloft to transmit or record information on conditions in the atmosphere. Orig. only as the second element in Combs. (as ballon-sonde, ionosonde, radiosonde, etc.).
| 1901 [see ballon-sonde]. 1937 [see radiosonde]. 1943 P. A. Anderson et al. Captive Radiosonde & Wired Sonde Techniques (U.S. Nat. Defense Res. Council Project P.D.R.C.-647, Rep. No. 3) 4 When the sonde is moved to a new altitude, a pause of 10–30 seconds is adequate to establish equilibrium readings on the meters. 1949 Sci. Progr. XXXVII. 490 A direct method of sounding may provide information on solar spectra from which data on the atmosphere above the highest level reached by the sonde may be derived. 1969 McIntosh & Thom Essent. Meteorol. vii. 111 More recently, ozone sondes have been used to measure the vertical distribution of ozone. 1975 Nature 1 May 20/2 A seventh aircraft was used to drop sondes from 40,000 feet and obtain additional vertical profiles of wind and temperature. |
b. An instrument probe for transmitting information about its surroundings underground or under water.
| 1952 Bull. Amer. Assoc. Petroleum Geologists XXXVI. 310 The application of the limestone sonde log to the determination of the porosity profile of wells. 1962 Research XV. 298/1 This deflection increases as the sonde continues to enter the [coal] seam. 1962 [see re-entry 2 d]. 1975 G. Anderson Coring vii. 124 The SP log is a measurement of the electrical potential energy in the mud around the sonde as compared with a reference electrode grounded at the surface. |