Glidersonde
Listen in RealAudio
Email your weather question

Worldwide over 2000 weather instruments are launched in the atmosphere every day, and never are used again. There's got to be a better way. Hi, I'm Dave Thurlow and this is the Weather Notebook.

For nearly 70 years, a weather measuring device, known as the Radiosonde, has been a vital component in our atmospheric observations system. The size of a Cream of Wheat box, this 8 ounce wonder is outfitted with weather instruments to measure such things as pressure, temperature, humidity, wind direction and speed.

The package is launched into the sky, lifted by a helium balloon. As it floats up in the air, it sends back weather data to meteorologists by radio. Eventually the balloon bursts or drifts out of range, and then falls to Earth . The devices are not usually recovered because recovery is more expensive than the value of each package, worth about $10. That becomes a chunk of change when you consider that 1800 Radiosondes are launched daily worldwide and never used again.

Enter the Glidersonde, now being developed by the National Weather Service! The Glidersonde looks like a miniature glider plane, with a wing span of about 4 feet and hefty weight of 4 and a 1/2 pounds. Outfitted with weather instruments and a mini-computer, it is launched by a helium balloon and as it ascends, it sends back weather measurements. At a preset altitude, the Glidersonde releases from the balloon, and is guided back home by radio control. A parachute deploys to gives it a soft landing, and the device is recovered to be used over and over again.

Today, the cost of a glidersonde is too high to replace the Radiosonde. But that may change, giving scientists a cost-effective way to expand the capability of collecting atmospheric measurements. Thanks today to writer Duncan McKee. Our sponsor is Subaru. The Weather Notebook is a production of the Mount Washington Observatory.