Since this is the first National Weather Service office I'm at that does a weather balloon launch (twice per day, everyday), we had to make it a point to go see how it's done. There's more to the process than we saw, but we joined in for the actual launch. When the wind is from the south (like it was this day, planes take off right over the launch site. We're just south of the airport, so many of the planes (especially the 747s) are sitll pretty low when they go overhead. Pretty cool.
The balloon is filled with hydrogen, and then a weather instrument called a radiosonde is tied underneath the balloon. Once we got the go-ahead from the airport control tower, the balloon was released. For the next hour or so, it collects data on temperature, relative humidity, and wind and sends it back to our office. This gives us a snapshot of the atmosphere right at our office (basically overhead, although the balloon does follow the winds as it ascends), and the data goes into weather models. Several (50-ish?) offices around the country launch these balloons everyday, and everywhere around the world, these balloons are launched at the same time. Then we get a snapshot of the weather across the globe! Pretty important and useful stuff!
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| The balloon is ready and waiting for the "all clear" from the airport tower. Wouldn't want the balloon to hit a plane on the way up! |
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| The plane we were told to wait to take off before the baloon was launched. Always fun to see them taking off right overhead. |
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| Up, up, and away! |
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| You can see the whole thing here... balloon... parachute... and the actual weather instrument (the black rectangle hanging below the parachute). |
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