ARCHIVE

Weather station records important data

Staff reporter

Look — up in the sky!

It's a bird!

It's a plane!

It's a weather balloon?

Dozens of large, white weather balloons were launched last week from a rural site in Marion County. Equipment was attached to the balloons to study climate changes.

Along 150th Road, west of Hillsboro, a metal office building houses meteorological equipment that helps scientists understand the effect clouds and crops have on the climate.

The ARM (Atmospheric Radiation Measurement) program is the largest global change research program supported by the U.S. Department of Energy.

For 10 days, scientists launched the helium-filled balloons from the rural site. Equipment was attached to the balloons that sent data back to the instruments on the ground. Aircraft monitored the experiments from above.

Students from the University of Oklahoma conducted the research.

Jonathan Whitehead was one of those students.

A junior majoring in meteorology, the scientist recorded data, monitored equipment, and launched the balloons. After eight hours, another student punched in. The balloons were launched and data collected around the clock for 10 days. The launches began June 17 with the last on Tuesday.

The launchings

Every three hours, a helium-filled balloon was launched. Prior to the launch, the scientist on duty called Federal Aviation Administration.

Current weather readings — humidity, temperature, wind direction, and speed — were recorded.

Special equipment attached to the balloon tracked the journey until the balloon burst, usually over Iowa, Whitehead said.

A large, cloth basket was used while the three-to four-foot round balloons were filled. When launched, the balloon was released and it quickly disappeared.

On Thursday when the launching was witnessed, a light breeze carried the balloon northerly and the naked eye could follow the balloon until it was a white dot in a blue sky.

The scientist quickly returned to his trailer where monitoring began to keep track of the latex aircraft.

"We have to make sure the balloon doesn't pop within the first 30 minutes after it's launched," Whitehead said.

Eventually the balloon will expand and burst. But until it does, the data is valuable.

Why do it?

"We're trying to understand a problem," Dan Rusk said, referring to global warming. Rusk is the site operations manager at the central facility of ARMS in Grant County, Oklahoma.

Instruments measure solar radiation. Information gathered at the remote location southwest of Hillsboro is helpful in forecasting weather. The data from the Hillsboro site is sent to weather services.

"This provides information to meteorologists to be able to forecast for up to five hours in a 200-mile radius," Whitehead said.

So, why is this laboratory out in the middle of nowhere?

"Most of the land in this part of the country is crops and fields," Whitehead said, which affects the dew point.

Certain crops, such as corn, releases a tremendous amount of moisture.

Dew points are measured which can dictate weather patterns and warn residents of impending severe weather.

"High dew points can cause the atmosphere to become unstable," Whitehead said.

When cold and warm air mix, volatile weather can erupt.

Human-induced changes in the land surface structure associated with plowing, crop rotation, and irrigation can induce changes in the atmosphere.

The CLASIC (Cloud and Land Surface Interaction Campaign) purposely was conducted in June, a time when the region is likely to be in the process of harvesting wheat. During the harvest period, large changes can occur that affects the amount of radiation reflected from the earth's surface with heat moving through the atmosphere.

The results of the data collected these past 10 days will be used to help decipher the roles of cloud structures and cloud and land surfaces.

The site

The monitoring began in 1992 when the ARM central facilities were established in Grant County, Oklahoma. The Hillsboro station began in 1994 and is one of 12 such ARM sites in Kansas. Other locations include Halstead, Towanda, Coldwater, Larned, Plevna, Medicine Lodge, Leroy, Beaumont, Elk Falls, Tyro, and Ashton.

Three primary locations — Southern Great Plains, Tropical Western Pacific, and North Slope of Alaska — were identified as representing the range of climate conditions that should be studied. Each site has instruments to gather massive amounts of climate data. Using these data, scientists are studying the effects and interactions of sunlight, radiant energy, and clouds to understand their impact on temperatures, weather, and climate.

In the grand scheme of the world, it does make a difference how land is used and the effect of changing landscapes.

Bass look for easy meal

Continued from Page 10

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