Carrier Balloon Trajectories in the Stratosphere

Abstract

The need for atmospheric sounding data between the surface and 30 mb for the Global Weather Experiment prompted the development of the Carrier Balloon System. During the development period, 23 constant-level balloon flights near 24 km were conducted. The wind trajectories from these flights are described. Series one, seven flights in the subtropics (23°S) in the summer stratospheric easterlies, displayed the dominant zonal and small meridional flow. Series two consisted of 13 carrier balloon prototype flights in the tropics (near equator), one in the quasi-biennial easterly phase and 12, a year later, in the quasi-biennial westerly phase in which no flight passed south of the equator. Series three, three flights at 27 km, was launched in the Southern Hemisphere winter at high latitude which illustrated the stratosphere's spring transition from westerly to easterly winds.