Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2008/05/31
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]That is indeed a radiosnde. If it has a cellulose-based covering, it will probably dissolve in seawater within a few hours. If it has plastic, then it's possibly a recoverable device. The disposables are worth about $270 each brand new. They have a GPS transmitter as well in order to measure winds. Once they hit their max height and the balloon bursts, they will broadcast a terminate signal to the station monitoring it so the operator and the weather guessers have a mB height reference point and time in regard to where the measurement stopped. I was an upper-air specialist in the Navy. I miss that job kind of. Highest I ever got my balloon was just over 89,000 feet over the Indian Ocean. I think the record for a US naval vessel at sea was 92kft. The latitude has a lot to do with burst height as it is significantly "thinner" the farther away from the equator the balloon is. Good times. PhilFo