Article
Thermal Wake Studies During the August 21st 2017 Total Solar Eclipse
The Journal of High Altitude Ballooning (JHAB)
(2021)
Abstract
A thermal wake occurs when a high altitude balloon (HAB) influences and changes the surrounding ambient atmospheric temperature of the air through which it passes. This effect warms the air below the balloon to greater than the ambient temperatures during daytime flights, and cooler than ambient temperatures during nighttime flights. The total solar eclipse of August 21st, 2017, provided us with an opportunity to study these balloon induced temperature transitions from daytime, to eclipsed induced night conditions over the scale of a single flight. To measure these transitions, St. Catherine University and the University of Minnesota, Morris, flew over 40 temperature sensors suspended beneath weather balloons ascending within the path of totality. Stratospheric temperature data collected during the eclipse show evidence of both daytime and nighttime wake temperature profiles
Disciplines
Publication Date
Summer August 9, 2021
DOI
https://doi.org/10.31274/jhab.13033
Citation Information
Kaye Smith, Erick Agrimson, Brittany Craig, Rachel Newman, et al.. "Thermal Wake Studies During the August 21st 2017 Total Solar Eclipse" The Journal of High Altitude Ballooning (JHAB) Vol. 1 Iss. 1 (2021) Available at: http://works.bepress.com/erick-agrimson/29/