Weather balloons keep missions on track

  • Published
  • By Lois Walsh
  • 96th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. --  If people in the local community see an orange parachute slowly drifting through the sky, there's no reason for concern.

The parachute is attached to what remains of a balloon that was launched by the 46th Weather Squadron. These balloons play a critical role in the success of many of Eglin's missions and provide data for customers far outside the base's gates, ultimately enabling the warfighter success in battle.

According to staff meteorologist Maj. Michael Scott, the helium-filled latex balloons carry aloft a small electronic package, called a radiosonde, containing several weather sensors and a UHF radio transmitter. Once the balloon is launched, the sensors records data during its ascent to more than 70,000 feet. That data is transmitted back to a ground station where it is imputed into a computer program for use by such agencies as the National Weather Service, the Air Force Weather Agency and the 26th Operatonal Weather Squadron at Barksdale AFB, La. The data collected includes temperature, moisture, pressure, wind speed/direction and atmospheric density.

Major Scott said the sensors and transmitters operate on a standard double-A battery pack which is encased in a water solution to prevent the batteries from freezing at high altitudes. The balloon usually disintegrates as it falls harmlessly back to the ground.

"There's nothing hazardous in the radiosonde and no special handling needed," Major Scott said. "It's no more complex than a VCR or cell phone."

The radiosondes are a one-time use item, so anyone finding a parachute can keep it, throw it away or turn it in to the weather squadron for disposal. And with launches sometimes happening twice a day, there's a good possibility that one will show up in a populated area. Anyone finding one can be assured the balloon provided a valuable service to the local community, the base and the Air Force.

Major Scott said the balloons are launched to support specific missions and the data is used in association with radar data to get accurate time and space information on the aircraft and weapons involved in the test.

"Any time radar tracking is involved, there will be a balloon launch to support it," Major Scott said.

The weather data is also used to predict what areas may be affected by smoke from controlled burns.
"We use a lot of information from the weather squadron; I would guess we utilize their automated weather service as much as, or more than, anyone on base," said James Furman, wildland fire program manager for the base. "We eat, live and breathe weather date in managing the wildland fire program."

Mr. Furman said the Natural Resources Section is now using data accumulated by weather balloons more frequently.

"We are learning that information can be useful to us, particularly the wind speeds aloft and the wind and temperature profiles, because they both affect smoke plume rise and management of our prescribed fires," he said.

Major Scott also said the weather data will indicate when the atmosphere is unstable which could mean the potential for storms in the local area. The data is imputed to the Improved Weather Dissemination System, or IWDS, which is a system used for disseminating routine weather information as well as weather advisories, watches or warnings throughout the Eglin community. It was designed to be an all-inclusive dissemination system and provides instantaneous notification to clients whenever inclement weather occurs.