Time Constant

A time constant is the amount of time it takes for a meteorological sensor to respond to a rapid change in a measurand until it is measuring values within the accuracy tolerance usually expected of the sensor.

This most often applies to measurements of temperature, dewpoint temperature, humidity and air pressure. Radiosondes are especially affected due to their rapid increase in altitude.

Famous quotes containing the words time and/or constant:

    I lived for a long time under vast porticos
    That maritime suns tinted with a thousand fires,
    And whose great pillars, straight and majestuous
    In the evening made seem like basaltic caves.
    Charles Baudelaire (1821–1867)

    By constant dripping, water hollows stone,
    A signet-ring from use alone grows thin,
    And the curved plowshare by soft earth is worn.
    Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso)