Weather balloon inside hurricane eye? That's our plan for 20

[hurricanetrack]

Announced today our newest project- to launch a weather balloon and its associated payload in to the eye of a hurricane. Read all about it here:

http://hurricanetrack.com/?p=189

Would love to know your thoughts, suggestions, what we might expect to learn etc. This will be a very fun project and one that could provide us with not only extraordinary video of the inside of a hurricane's eye but also wind flow data via the GPS inside the payload.

[brunota2003]

I will post my thoughts this evening, when I get a moment or two.

[brunota2003]

One thing I posted on the facebook link:

One thing that can also be done is that, if the balloon is not fully inflated, depending on the payload, it should level out and fly at a certain height (below the bursting level of the balloon). I'm not sure how exactly that math works out...but it makes for a cheaper version of a Hurricane Hunter aircraft, and one that can "fly" in/around the hurricane even after it has made landfall. The main issue would be how long the battery lasts. That could provide an opportunity to study the inflow of a hurricane, depending on how high up the balloon levels out at.

As far as launching the balloons go, it is difficult in even 10 or 20 mph winds. That requires a 2 man crew...1 person holds the balloon, while the other holds the radiosonde/package downwind of the balloon. With a radiosonde, the twine on the sonde itself actually unfurls "during" the beginning of the flight, so the person holding it has to run with it as the balloon lifts off the ground (in higher winds, the balloon tends to go more horizontal than vertical, especially at the beginning). Reason being, the radiosonde will drop and smack the ground and most likely break. With your package, the dropping shouldn't be too big of a problem, since there is no excess twine unfurling.

So, for launching, I would recommend either off the roof of a building, or in a big field. If the roof has a big enough doorway, you could actually opt to fill the balloon up inside, then take it outside to launch it. Maybe one of the local NWS offices would allow access to their inflation shed, or some other group that has a building with a large doorway. Reason I said the roof, it should help you clear any other buildings or trees in the immediate area. Another thing, the balloons, when inflated, tug on you quite a bit in the wind...so you would need to be wary of that.

If you need a good crash course about flying balloons, ask the weather office there if you can come in for a tour, and watch them launch one of their two synoptic flights! When I went, I was asking about how they fill the balloons, tie them off, etc...it was pretty neat learning a bit about what I would be doing in the Army. Then I joined, got into the real Army (after training), and haven't touched a balloon since! The Army phased the balloons out, "too expensive", they decided NOGAPS data was accurate enough as is.

[somethingfunny]

......

they decided NOGAPS data was accurate enough as is.

[hurricanetrack]

Follow the progress of the project here:

http://hurricanetrack.com/hurrb/

Will post updates, pics, videos and more on this page as we work to develop and eventually test/launch the payload. As the Joker said in Dark Knight: "And here.......we.........GO!"

Wish us luck, we're going to need it.

[brunota2003]

......

they decided NOGAPS data was accurate enough as is.

Yeah...I've been arguing balloon flights would help out more, but what do I know? I'm just a junior enlisted hah

[senorpepr]

It's really a cost effective issue. Models are much better today and, unless you're in a data void area, one balloon won't help too much. The gain of another balloon to the model data doesn't outweigh the cost of sending up a balloon. (Helium is expensive!!)

[brunota2003]

For the U.S. that is pretty true...but for deployments, I still think that they would be better off doing a launch or two a day.

[senorpepr]

For the U.S. that is pretty true...but for deployments, I still think that they would be better off doing a launch or two a day.

I totally agree for deployments... although getting the appropriate approvals may be difficult.

[MGC]

I know years ago the Navy use to launch weather balloon from aircraft carriers. Don't know if they still do.....If I recall my history, a balloon has been launched into a hurricane or typhoon in the past. What I'd like to see is more unmanned recon into hurricanes. I think they will be more cost effective and the crew will not be at risk.......MGC

[brunota2003]

Over land, they could weigh down the balloons (or not inflate them fully) so that they fly at a certain altitude (say 1000 ft) and release them outside the hurricane and let the inflow carry them in. That would be some interesting data.

[hurricanetrack]

The first version of HURR-B will contain GPS recording equipment and HD cameras only. From there, we will work towards a broader reach of the project.

After speaking with several people about the idea at the National Hurricane Conference, it is clear that such projects would serve a very useful purpose, especially in gathering decay information as a hurricane moves inland.

As far as getting approval to launch, we'll be following the FAA guidelines to a T and actually won't have to worry about any commercial aircraft what so ever since there will be a hurricane on top of us. Kind of helps eliminate that worry completely. I am also confident that the Hurricane Hunter planes do not fly recon over land, correct? If so, it is very rare and right along the coast, just hugging it. Still, they too will know of the launch and if they're airborne as it goes up, maybe they can photograph it for us