Found a Radiosonde

AdamZ

AdamZ

Touchdown! Greaser!
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Display name:
Adam Zucker
This is very cool. So tonight I was walking out of Friday night services at my synagogue and I see an odd white box near my car with a wire sticking out if it and a long string running out of it.

Now you have to understand we have to have security at our synagogue because well there are real butt holes out there that have made threats so the this ain't right radar goes up. Especially since it wasn't there when I pulled into the spot about 2 hours earlier.

I went back in and got a friend who is the congregation president ( as if it wouldn't blow up if two of us were there. Ha. So I grab my flashlight out of the glove box and read on the label what it is. I then followed the string about 75 feet and find the burst balloon and parachute.

It says it was launched from Sterling VA on January 30 at 6:00pm that means it went through that hilacious storm we had Wednesday night. I figure That's about 150 miles straight line.

I'll mail it back to NOAA on Monday after I show my daughter and nephews.
 

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Here is a photo of the burst balloon and parachute.
 

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Pretty cool. Which synagogue do you go to. When I lived in Philly I went to one of Roosevelt Parkway for a number of years, then one in Upper Darby.

Doug
 
Check the car in bright lights for dents. I wonder how many of those are actually found?
 
AdamZ said:
This is very cool. So tonight I was walking out of Friday night services at my synagogue and I see an odd white box near my car with a wire sticking out if it and a long string running out of it.

Now you have to understand we have to have security at our synagogue because well there are real butt holes out there that have made threats so the this ain't right radar goes up. Especially since it wasn't there when I pulled into the spot about 2 hours earlier.

I went back in and got a friend who is the congregation president ( as if it wouldn't blow up if two of us were there. Ha. So I grab my flashlight out of the glove box and read on the label what it is. I then followed the string about 75 feet and find the burst balloon and parachute.

It says it was launched from Sterling VA on January 30 at 6:00pm that means it went through that hilacious storm we had Wednesday night. I figure That's about 150 miles straight line.

I'll mail it back to NOAA on Monday after I show my daughter and nephews.
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Man,, If that thing could talk...:eek:.

It has been aloft for 46 hours.. That is one serious batch of updrafts..:yes:
 
That's really cool!

In one of my classes last year, we got to dissect the previous iteration of these things. It was really cool to go through. Of particular note was the battery, which was a wet cell, so it came with these great instructions that said "first immerse this battery in water for x minutes. Then swing vigorously in circles around your head for thirty seconds." Seems pretty silly to me...but that's how they worked. Also, the calibration data was all on a 3ish foot long strip of punch paper. I felt like I was going back in time technology-wise...but apparently it was manufactured in roughly 1996 for NOAA. And maybe the Air Force too? Either way, we got them through the Air Force.

Also, I had no idea that you could send them back. Pretty cool.
 
Paste a Pilots of America logo on it first.
 
AdamZ said:
This is very cool. So tonight I was walking out of Friday night services at my synagogue and I see an odd white box near my car with a wire sticking out if it and a long string running out of it.

Now you have to understand we have to have security at our synagogue because well there are real butt holes out there that have made threats so the this ain't right radar goes up. Especially since it wasn't there when I pulled into the spot about 2 hours earlier.

I went back in and got a friend who is the congregation president ( as if it wouldn't blow up if two of us were there. Ha. So I grab my flashlight out of the glove box and read on the label what it is. I then followed the string about 75 feet and find the burst balloon and parachute.

It says it was launched from Sterling VA on January 30 at 6:00pm that means it went through that hilacious storm we had Wednesday night. I figure That's about 150 miles straight line.

I'll mail it back to NOAA on Monday after I show my daughter and nephews.
Click to expand...

Cool. When I was high school age back on the farm in the 60's I found one out in a field. Looked very similar.
 
About 15 years ago I was driving between Klamath Falls and Medford Oregon. One just about hit my pickup. It was the first one I've ever seen.
 
Gary said:
Cool!!! Nice addition to the shelf.

Gary
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I would be a cool addition but I'll send it back as I suspect it will be helpful for them to down load the data from the unit. Not sure if it reports the data back via the antennae but it was pretty small so I'd think not. It would be cool if they gave you the data from the unit you mail back.
 
This is one of those things that I always wondered about and never read about. Really cool.
 
AdamZ said:
I would be a cool addition but I'll send it back as I suspect it will be helpful for them to down load the data from the unit. Not sure if it reports the data back via the antennae but it was pretty small so I'd think not. It would be cool if they gave you the data from the unit you mail back.
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The honorable thing to do. Good question as to whether it does radio back the data in real time.

Gary
 
AdamZ said:
I would be a cool addition but I'll send it back as I suspect it will be helpful for them to down load the data from the unit. Not sure if it reports the data back via the antennae but it was pretty small so I'd think not. It would be cool if they gave you the data from the unit you mail back.
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Gary said:
The honorable thing to do. Good question as to whether it does radio back the data in real time.

Gary
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It does transmit back unless it's broken.... That's what they're built to do--these things get launched (usually) ever twelve hours at many points around the world to get atmospheric samples and from there, the day's forecasts. Let me stop my rambling there and shamelessly quote from wikipedia:

Worldwide there are more than 800 radiosonde launch sites. Most countries share data with the rest of the world through international agreements. Nearly all routine radiosonde launches occur 45 minutes before the official observation time of 0000 UTC and 1200 UTC, so as to provide an instantaneous snapshot of the atmosphere. This is especially important for numerical modeling. In the United States the National Weather Service is tasked with providing timely upper-air observations for use in weather forecasting, severe weather watches and warnings, and atmospheric research. The National Weather Service launches radiosondes from 92 stations in North America and the Pacific Islands twice daily. It also supports the operation of 10 radiosonde sites in the Caribbean.
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So the question then as it sits on my kitchen counter is it still transmitting?
 
I hope you've been wearing your tinfoil-lined jock strap while handling it.

AdamZ said:
So the question then as it sits on my kitchen counter is it still transmitting?
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With 800 a day going up, you'd think you'd hear about them turning up more often. Also curious on percentage found/returned.
 
LDJones said:
With 800 a day going up, you'd think you'd hear about them turning up more often. Also curious on percentage found/returned.
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From NOAA Website:
"Radiosondes are easy to recognize, and each one has its own addressed, postage-paid return mailbag. However, the National Weather Service recovers less than 20 percent of the 75,000 radiosondes released each year."
 
Each costs around $100.
 
ebykowsky said:
Each costs around $100.
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Add the hydrogen or helium gas to the above. It also depends on the model. Whether gps, ozone, electrical, radioactive, etc. One of the above links mentions the cost.
 
That's really cool! I've only ever seen them when they're launched from our station right next to our main Rwy (ILX at KAAA).
The damn things have scared the hell out of me on a departure at both 6am and 6pm, when they launch from our station.
 
The Sterling Upper Air Station (WMO 72403, WBAN 93734) is located at latitude 38o 58’ 36” North, longitude 77o 29’ 09” East at an elevation of 88.4 meters above mean sea level and is on the northwestern corner of Washington-Dulles International Airport. The Sterling Upper Air Station has been making routine rawinsonde observations since 1949.

This particular model has GPS and has been launched from here since August 2005.

Now how in the world did it stay in the air for nearly two days. Could it have landed on a nearby roof, yard or parking lot and then got blown near your car?
 
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Given the number of those things that go up every year, I am suprised we dont hear about them getting hit by aircraft. They are light enough to not do much damage, but you would figure they leave a dent on the leading edge. The really big sky theory at work I guess.
 
My girl friend and my roommate worked together launching weather balloons one summer off the University campus. He got paid some extra at the end of the project to go down to DCA and retrieve the ground equipment the team there was using. Since he didn't have a car at the time, I drove him down there. The director of airport ops gave us a ride out to the trailer housing the equipment, kind of cool to be tooling around the airside at a major airport like that. Also found that former president Nixon was coming in on a later flight that day.

One of their radiosondes did show up on the news when someone recovered it. The guy decided he might want to make a beer cooler out of it (the housing is styrofoam).
 
Very cool! :yes:
Especially that it landed near your car - as someone who actually knows what it is!
 
RV10flyer said:
This should answer any questions. Very interesting, especially time in the air and direction/distance traveled. What direction are you from the launch point?

http://www.ua.nws.noaa.gov/factsheet.htm

http://www.jsonline.com/news/wisconsin/29351609.html?ipad=y

http://www.helium.com/items/1512013-how-does-a-weather-balloon-work
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Where I found this was in Blue Bell PA about mmmm I'd say 150 miles north east of the launch site.

RV10flyer said:
The Sterling Upper Air Station (WMO 72403, WBAN 93734) is located at latitude 38o 58’ 36” North, longitude 77o 29’ 09” East at an elevation of 88.4 meters above mean sea level and is on the northwestern corner of Washington-Dulles International Airport. The Sterling Upper Air Station has been making routine rawinsonde observations since 1949.

This particular model has GPS and has been launched from here since August 2005.

Now how in the world did it stay in the air for nearly two days. Could it have landed on a nearby roof, yard or parking lot and then got blown near your car?
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The Lat Long I found it at is:
40.17402,-75.306022 at about350, msl. There is no way it blew off a roof based on where it was in the parking lot. Plus remember it wasn't there when I went parked the car about 2 hours earlier.
 
Scott is that graph from the actual balloon that I found? If so it parachuted quite far if the chute deployed at 80nm from Sterling.
 
Scott - what a nice thing, to track down the actual trace from this particular radiosonde. Don't even ask me why, but it tickles me to know that. And, if I know Adam, him too!
 
Wow! Scott thanks for doing that! I can't wait to show that to my daughter and nephews along with the graph that makes it even cooler!!

I'm tempted to print out the ROAB and post it next tot eh Radiosonde but if I can save NWS a hundred bucks then it goes back. I liken this to finding a message in a bottle.
 
Very, very cool. However, I wonder why the balloons aren't bright orange to increase visibility to aircraft?
 
It's like a baby picture... And a report card.
 
AdamZ said:
This is very cool. So tonight I was walking out of Friday night services at my synagogue and I see an odd white box near my car with a wire sticking out if it and a long string running out of it.

Now you have to understand we have to have security at our synagogue because well there are real butt holes out there that have made threats so the this ain't right radar goes up. Especially since it wasn't there when I pulled into the spot about 2 hours earlier.

I went back in and got a friend who is the congregation president ( as if it wouldn't blow up if two of us were there. Ha. So I grab my flashlight out of the glove box and read on the label what it is. I then followed the string about 75 feet and find the burst balloon and parachute.

It says it was launched from Sterling VA on January 30 at 6:00pm that means it went through that hilacious storm we had Wednesday night. I figure That's about 150 miles straight line.

I'll mail it back to NOAA on Monday after I show my daughter and nephews.
Click to expand...

You posted photos of this unit online! Are you INSANE? Soon terrorists will be building bombs marked "Harmless Weather Instrument"!
 
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