Monday’s total solar eclipse will bring unique opportunities for scientific research across the country.
During the April 8th solar eclipse, students at UAlbany’s Department of Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences are participating in NASA’s Nationwide Eclipse Ballooning Project.
While huddled a Fort Drum near Watertown, New York, students will be launching weather balloons equipped with small battery-powered devices called radiosondes. As the balloons soar 100,000 feet above the earth in the path of totality, they will transmit real-time atmospheric data, which will be compared to conditions on the ground.
Less than a week before launch day, UAlbany Professor Justin Minder pauses to explain the flurry of activity inside a loading dock.
“This is kind of one of our last dry runs, getting the students practicing, going through all the steps of preparing the balloon, preparing the instrumentation, preparing the computers, we're setting up a weather station out in the parking lot to give us extra context for the data. So, there's lots of steps you got to do right to get really good data. And then we're going to be doing this every hour leading up to and after the eclipse for about 24 hours. So, we want to have a well-oiled scientific machine…”
Ahead of today’s test-run, UAlbany senior Kelly Geiger is making final adjustments.
“Right now, we are setting up the parachute, which will be connected to the radiosonde, which is what we're going to be launching up into the atmosphere. And so, right now we're working on tying everything together, making sure everything is secure so the radiosonde doesn't fall when we launch up,” said Geiger.
Sean White, a senior atmospheric science major, says the national eclipse research study is his first time taking part in a field campaign.
“And a lot of the stuff that we get to learn and get to experience here is just something that you just can't experience when just sitting in a classroom, looking at maps, and looking at data that already has been collected. You get to see and experience the entire process that is behind all the data collection,” said White.
Jean Carlos Pena, a second-year graduate student, is also excited to be involved.
“Radiosondes and weather balloons are like very core to atmospheric science; people have been launching them for like a century now. And…you can still learn so much about it. So, it's cool to see and learn about such a rare opportunity,” said Pena.
The research is as much a scientific field project as it is a lesson in cooperation.
In the parking lot behind UAlbany’s ETEC building, peering at a laptop screen under a pop-up tent, senior Alan Birnbaum is working with others to determine how much helium needs to be used to inflate the rubber balloon.
“So, if we put in too little, the balloon won't go up. If we put in too much, it'll burst way lower than what we need it to be. Because this balloon should hopefully go up to about 30, 35 kilometers which is about 18 or like 20, maybe 21 miles up,” said Birnbaum.
And then, with the details ironed out, it’s time to inflate.
Now the size of a smart car, the balloon will be the size of a small school bus when it reaches its apex.
And then, as the rain falls, the balloon is ready for its rise…
“3..2..1…”
The large white balloon carrying its small battery-powered device clears the ETEC building and heads for the clouds. The team is ready for the eclipse.
