The superpressure balloon was developed to provide a method of obtaining global winds at all altitudes from 5 to 30 km. If a balloon could be made to fly for several weeks at a constant altitude, and if it could be tracked accurately on its global circuits, the balloon would provide a tag for the air parcel in which it was embedded. The Lagrangian data on the atmospheric circulation would provide a superior data input to the numerical model. The Global Atmospheric Research Program (GARP) was initiated in large part based on the promise of this technique coupled with free-floating ocean buoys and satellite radiometers. The initial name proposed by Charney for GARP was SABABURA 'SAtellite BAlloon BUoy RAdiometric system' (Charney, 1966). However, although the superpressure balloon exceeded its designers' expectations for flight duration in the stratosphere (longest flight duration of 744 days), flight duration below 10 km was limited by icing in super-cooled clouds to a few days. The balloon was relegated to a secondary role during the GARP Special Observing Periods. The several major superpressure balloon programs for global wind measurement are described as well as those new developments which make the balloon once again an attractive vehicle for measurement of global winds as a reference and bench-mark system for future satellite systems.


    Access

    Access via TIB

    Check availability in my library


    Export, share and cite



    Title :

    Reference level winds from balloon platforms


    Contributors:


    Publication date :

    1985-01-01


    Type of media :

    Conference paper


    Type of material :

    No indication


    Language :

    English





    Comparison between reference atmosphere winds and radar winds from selected locations

    Manson, A.H. / Meek, C.E. / Vincent, R.A. et al. | Elsevier | 1990


    Comparison between reference atmosphere winds and radar winds from selected locations

    Manson, A. H. / Meek, C. E. / Vincent, R. A. et al. | NTRS | 1990


    Stratospheric Balloon Platforms for Planetary Science

    Tibor Kremic / Nancy Chanover / Andrew Cheng et al. | NTRS | 2020