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Controlled weather balloon ascents and descents for atmospheric research and climate monitoring
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Controlled weather balloon ascents and descents for atmospheric research and climate monitoring
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  • DOI:
    http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-929-2016
  • Personal Authors:
  • Description:
    In situ upper-air measurements are often made with instruments attached to weather balloons launched at the surface and lifted into the stratosphere. Present-day balloon-borne sensors allow near-continuous measurements from the Earth's surface to about 35 km (3-5 hPa), where the balloons burst and their instrument payloads descend with parachutes. It has been demonstrated that ascending weather balloons can perturb the air measured by very sensitive humidity and temperature sensors trailing behind them, particularly in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (UTLS). The use of controlled balloon descent for such measurements has therefore been investigated and is described here. We distinguish between the single balloon technique that uses a simple automatic valve system to release helium from the balloon at a preset ambient pressure, and the double balloon technique that uses a carrier balloon to lift the payload and a parachute balloon to control the descent of instruments after the carrier balloon is released at preset altitude. The automatic valve technique has been used for several decades for water vapor soundings with frost point hygrometers, whereas the double balloon technique has recently been re-established and deployed to measure radiation and temperature profiles through the atmosphere. Double balloon soundings also strongly reduce pendulum motion of the payload, stabilizing radiation instruments during ascent. We present the flight characteristics of these two ballooning techniques and compare the quality of temperature and humidity measurements made during ascent and descent.

  • Document Type:
    Journal Article
  • Collection(s):
    Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR)
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      Feingold, G.; McComiskey, A.; Yamaguchi, T.; Johnson, J. S.; Carslaw, K. S.; Schmidt, K. S.;
      Published:
      2016
      Source:
      Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 113(21), 5812-5819.
      Series:
      CIRES (Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences)
      Description:
      The topic of cloud radiative forcing associated with the atmospheric aerosol has been the focus of intense scrutiny for decades. The enormity of the problem is reflected in the need to understand aspects such as aerosol composition, optical propertie...
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      2016
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      CIRES (Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences)
      Description:
      Methane (CH4) impacts climate as the second strongest anthropogenic greenhouse gas and air quality by influencing tropospheric ozone levels. Space-based observations have identified the Four Corners region in the Southwest United States as an area of...
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      Journal of Geophysical Research-Biogeosciences, 121(8), 2275-2295.
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      Description:
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      Description:
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      Description:
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      CIRES (Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences)
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      Methane (CH4) fluxes from Alaska and other arctic regions may be sensitive to thawing permafrost and future climate change, but estimates of both current and future fluxes from the region are uncertain. This study estimates CH4 fluxes across Alaska f...
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      CIRES (Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences)
      Description:
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      Description:
      Profiles of CFC-11 (CCl3F) and CFC-12 (CCl2F2) of the Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding (MIPAS) aboard the European satellite Envisat have been retrieved from versions MIPAS/4.61 to MI-PAS/4.62 and MIPAS/5.02 to MIPAS/5.06 lev...
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      CIRES (Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences)
      Description:
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      Filetype[PDF - 2.83 MB]
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      Description:
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      File Type:
      Filetype[PDF - 536.86 KB]
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      CIRES (Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences)
      Description:
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      File Type:
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      Description:
      We report ground-based atmospheric measurements and emission estimates for the halons H-1211 (CBrClF2), H-1301 (CBrF3), and H-2402 (CBrF2CBrF2) from the AGAGE (Advanced Global Atmospheric Gases Experiment) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adm...
      File Type:
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      Published:
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      Source:
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      Series:
      CIRES (Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences)
      Description:
      A 20 month cloud condensation nucleus concentration (N-CCN) data set from Graciosa Island (39 degrees N, 28 degrees W) in the remote North Atlantic is used to characterize air masses with low cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) concentrations. Low-CCN ev...
      File Type:
      Filetype[PDF - 6.32 MB]
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      Personal Author:
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      Published:
      2016
      Source:
      Journal of Geophysical Research-Biogeosciences, 121(11), 2793-2810.
      Series:
      CIRES (Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences)
      Description:
      Relationships between boreal wildfire emissions and day-to-day variations in meteorological variables are complex and have important implications for the sensitivity of high-latitude ecosystems to climate change. We examined the influence of environm...
      File Type:
      Filetype[PDF - 2.44 MB]
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