Our Radiosonde Makes a Surprise
Landing in Albuquerque!
Motorists and residents near the
intersection of San Pedro and Candelaria in Albuquerque's northeast
heights received quite a surprise on Wednesday evening (July
11, 2007) when an unidentified object fell from the sky and onto
a car. A small case with wires and a plastic parachute with a
warning message resulted in some apprehension and Albuquerque Police
including the bomb squad were called to the site.,
The "unidentified object" was actually a "weather
balloon" and an instrument called a
radiosonde released that evening from our office. The balloon was
launched
near the airport around 5:00 pm MST. Our sensors indicate that
the balloon "burst" one and a half hours after release
at an elevation of 95,000 feet. Thirty minutes later, around 7:00
pm,
the ruptured
balloon, instrument case, and parachute landed just a few miles
from where it was released!
Radiosondes are instruments used to measure weather
parameters at elevations up to 100,000 feet. An expendable instrument
package (the white box above) is about the size of a shoe box and
contains sensors that measure temperature, humidity, and air pressure.
The package is attached to a balloon filled with hydrogen (hence
the warning tag in case the balloon is found still inflated) and
released. By tracking the position of the instrument, wind speed
and direction is obtained. A parachute is used to slow the descent
of
the package as it falls back to the surface. Our office releases
a radiosonde twice each day. The balloons can travel more than 100
miles from the launch site and it is quite rare for the package
to end up in the Albuquerque Metro Area.
While we use a parachute to reduce the descent speed and minimize
danger to lives and property, we also hope to minimize damage to
the instrument package. Once on the ground, if the instrument is
found,directions for returning the radiosonde
to the National Weather Service are listed on a side of the case.
About 20 percent of the radiosondes launched are returned in this
manner. On the evening of July 11th, this side of the case was
face down when the radiosonde came to rest on the sidewalk.
The data obtained from the radiosonde is used to produce
a sounding, or a plot of the meteorological conditions from the surface
to 100mb, or about 50,000 feet. The sounding from the evening of
July 11th is shown below. Soundings are routinely used by our forecasters
to evaluate the state of the atmosphere and are particularly useful
when forecasting severe weather. However, the "upper air" data
obtained through the radiosonde program are also very important input
for
our weather and climate forecast models. Soundings are always available
from our web site, under the "Skew-T/Log P Diagrams" heading
on our
observations page.
National Weather Service
Albuquerque Weather Forecast Office
2341 Clark Carr LP SE
Albuquerque, NM 87106
Ph: 505.243.0702
Web Master's Email: ABQ Webmaster
Page Author: WFO Albuquerque, NM
Date modified:
www.srh.weather.gov 
National
Weather Service Weather Forecast Office
