The Superpressue Balloon Sounding Technique for the Study of Atmospheric Meso-and Microscale Phenomena

Abstract

The history of the superpressure balloon sounding technique for scientific investigation of the dynamics of the atmosphere is noted. The technology of the balloon and associated pay-load is briefly described, and the spurious natural oscillations of a balloon about its nominal flight level are discussed. A few sensors specially designed to fly on superpressure balloons are presented, and the difficulties to be overcome in the design are stressed. A few experiments carried out aboard such balloons to study the dynamics of meso- and microscale phenomena in the atmosphere are described, and they show the many possibilities offered by such a technique. The application of this technique to such studies is especially emphasized. In particular, it is shown that different phenomena occurring in the atmosphere from the boundary layer to the middle layers of the stratosphere can be handled at a low cost and specific information can be obtained using satellite relay for data transmission.