Many more Atlantic ships now releasing weather balloons?

Gaoth Laidir

I've recently noticed a lot of soundings appearing from ships sailing across the Atlantic. Each ship seems to be releasing at least one balloon per day, sometimes two or three. It's really filling in a large data-void out there and will no-doubt increase the accuracy of forecast models, which is to be welcomed.

During initial COVID lockdowns we did have a lot less aircraft reports to work with, but now that things seem to be back to normal aviation-wise it's nice to see additional data. Of course it's also in the ship operators' interests to have more accurate models, so it's a small price for them to pay.

Below is an animation of the past three days' soundings (temperature).