Superpressure Balloons and Communications Satellites - A New Approach for Tropical Meteorological Soundings

A new approach for measuring winds, temperature and humidity in the tropics has been developed which utilizes high-altitude superpressure balloons and a communications or data-collection satellite for data relay. A large balloon is used to carry a load dropsondes which are individually released upon command from a synchronous satellite. These sondes telemeter Omega navigation signals, temperature and humidity data to the mother balloon which also serves as a data relay terminal to a synchronous satellite. The satellite in turn transmits the data to a ground station. Upon reception the data are processed in a large computer to recover the meteorological measurements. The National Center for Atmospheric Research is sponsored by the National Science Foundation.