Today we launched two balloons back-to-back with (and only with) the help of the Southern Great Plains (SGP) ARM technicians, James Martin and Scott Seabridge. With their help, we are able to launch two balloons about twenty minutes apart, track the flights with two chase teams, and recover the two AirCore payloads to bring back for analysis at the same time!
Sonja, Jack, James, and Scott set up payloads for both balloons.
Four AirCores, two balloons, ten 13-pound weight bags for holding down the balloons, a launcher, three backpacks, and a partridge in a pear tree.
In this way, we get twice as many profiles of carbon dioxide, methane, and carbon monoxide in the atmosphere, and a chance to compare and test four different AirCores that are traveling in approximately the same air masses during flight.
Bianca fills balloon #1. In the background, two payloads are set up simultaneously for a quick turnaround and launch of balloon #2.
Bianca checks the AirCores after landing in a field. Temperature: 95 degrees Fahrenheit. Humidity: >80%
AirCores from Balloon 1 just barely miss the treeline and land in a crop field.
Well, that’s the goal at least…
While Sonja, Jack, and Bianca were retrieving the first balloon payload, we got a call from James and Scott with word that our second payload was strung across multiple trees about 60 feet above ground level. Jack and Sonja dropped Bianca off back at the SGP ARM site to analyze the AirCores from Balloon 1, and then met up with James and Scott to survey the situation.
Yikes! Balloon #2 payload is up in a tree.
Given that it was already late afternoon, we resigned ourselves to not recovering the AirCores today. We schemed about various strategies from hiring a cherry picker truck or tree climber to trying to throw a rope over the exposed line and pull it down. As a starter, we made a quick stop by Lowe’s before dinner and purchased a 16 foot long tree pruner.
To be continued…
