Weather balloons
Weather balloons and the way they helped revolutionize the weather forecast field
Weather balloons are an extremely important part of the weather forecast system. Typically such a system comprises of ground observation (measurement of atmospheric pressure ,level of rain fall, wind direction and speed), satellite observation (observation of the cloud systems, fronts of pressure, cyclones and anticyclones) and weather balloon observation.
It is very easy to remark the specific niche that weather balloons help cover. The data from inside the clouds is very accurate and these balloons can also help deliver information traditionally offered by satellites, but at a much lower cost.
A question may arise at this point. What exactly are weather balloons? They are nothing more than oversized helium balloons, made of a very strong yet light material, which contain a wide variety of measuring instruments.
The most difficult logistic part when it comes to weather balloons is their launching. Perfect timing is needed as this is the moment when just about anything can go wrong. The electricity from the lower atmosphere can damage the equipment or strong winds may crash the balloon on the ground. It is the very nightmare of any engineer.
Before the weather balloons were used other more harmful methods were used to analyze the atmosphere. An experiment done in the early days of the cold war involved several nuclear bombs detonated in the very high atmosphere. Nonetheless you mustn't be a nuclear physicist to comprehend the dangers of such a method. Nowadays the weather forecast field is a much milder one and it is the very edge of the environmentalist movement.
Along the years weather balloons greatly helped in understanding how our planet deals with its problems and they are still extensively used in research. It was a weather balloon that discovered pollen in the very atmosphere and data from a weather balloon was used to confirm the existence of the global warming phenomenon. Both of these are hot issues to date, the first because it put NASA on a different search for extraterrestrial life forms and the second because it reminded us of how fragile our planet really is.
Although satellites are still increasingly used for weather forecasting, weather balloons are more and more advocated by a small group of scientists as a reliable alternative. Strange enough the weather balloons may soon become communication balloons as there some plans for attaching telecommunication relays to them. This would open am entirely era of cheaper communication.