Weather
at the surface of our planet
is profoundly affected by conditions in the
atmosphere hundreds to tens of thousands of feet above its surface.
Although the first use of kites for meteorological experiments occurred
over 250 years ago, the systematic use of balloons and kites for atmospheric
observations did not begin in earnest until the early Twentieth Century.
In
the United States, Harvard's Blue Hill Observatory and the United
States Weather Bureau were pioneers in the use of kites and balloons
for upper atmospheric observations including temperature, pressure,
wind velocity, and wind direction. Soon instruments such as the meteorograph
were invented that recorded various parameters while aloft.
The
advent of the airplane accelerated the need for this information and
kite stations were established at strategic locations around the country.
With the airplane also came a new means to make observations at altitude.
However, the airplanes could only fly in good weather somewhat negating
the early value of aircraft observations.
By
the mid-1930's balloon observations with transmitting radio-meteorographs
made kite observations obsolete. The remote sensing of the atmosphere
by radar began as an outgrowth of World War II radar development when
it was noticed early on that clouds and various forms of precipitation
would generate echoes that could be correlated with various weather
phenomena.
Visit
"Exploring the Atmosphere" and learn about the evolution
of these systems....
