An Open-Source Documentation and Implementation of the Vaisala RS41 Data Preparation Algorithms

An open-source algorithm for calculating the physical pressure, temperature, and humidity values from Vaisala RS41 radiosonde telemetry is presented, which was developed by amateur radio operators through analysing disused instruments. The algorithm is compared to the same data generated by Vaisala MW41 software for a data set of around 25 soundings. While pressure and temperature measurements show very little deviation, humidity, especially in high-altitude high-humidity situations, is vastly overestimated, although acceptable results are obtained for atmospheric pressures higher than 500 hPa.