COURTESY PHOTO NOAA researcher Randy Johnson and UH meteorologist Steven Businger look on as their high-tech balloon rises above Long Island for its flight over the Atlantic.

UH scientist hails flight
of pollution-monitoring
balloon

A high-tech "smart balloon" launched Aug. 3 from Long Island, N.Y., was a "spectacular success" before its flight ended off the coast of Africa, says Steven Businger, a University of Hawaii meteorology professor.

The balloon's trans-Atlantic flight was the first time a low-level balloon had drifted from one continent to another while continuously measuring ozone and meteorological conditions, the scientists said.

The purpose, Businger said, was to look at the "aging" of pollution plumes emitted into the air from New York, Boston and other big cities in the Northeast.

Through a combination of sunlight and interaction of the pollutants with each other and the air, the plumes go through chemical changes, he said.

Those changes are complex and have implications for air quality, as well as climate, by the way they influence the development of clouds, for example.

The 12-pound, 10.3-foot spherical balloon was packed with instruments for atmospheric studies, including a unique miniaturized ozone detector built by the University of New Hampshire.

Businger, principal investigator for the balloon project, is collaborating with UNH.

"The data will allow us to better understand the influence of pollutants on the environment, and that can be used to help develop science policy and hopefully provide input to the political process," he said.

Businger believes the 2 1/2-week journey could set a record for a balloon flight in the lower troposphere, the part of the atmosphere from the earth's surface to several miles above it.

Such balloons are called "smart" because they can adjust their buoyancy to maintain a vertical position.

"Let me say on the record that 'smart balloon' has simply been Einsteinian," said Berrien Moore III, a principal investigator for a larger UNH Targeted Wind Sensing Program, congratulating the balloon team.

Businger worked with Randy Johnson, lead engineer and developer of the smart balloon at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Air Resources Laboratory in Idaho Falls, Idaho.

Johnson, who sent commands to the balloon during the mission, developed the smart balloon under five grants obtained by Businger. It evolved from a simple design with no buoyancy to next-generation technology.

It had solar panels and state-of-the-art instruments that measured temperature, relative humidity, rate of rainfall, solar radiation and sea-surface temperature. Satellite communications replaced a radio system to allow continuous monitoring of the balloon and sensor data.

The research team wanted to bring it down in the Atlantic, but it landed on La Palma in the Canary Islands last week. It hit something that ruptured the outer shell (made of Spectra, bulletproof vest material), and it rose again to about 11,000 feet, Businger said.

The instruments were protected within the balloon instead of hanging outside as in the past and continued sending data, he said. However, the battery was used up, and the scientists lost track of it Aug. 15 as it was heading toward the Mediterranean, he said.

The project, called AIRMAP, is part of a wide-scale atmospheric investigation of air quality and climate change conducted by the International Consortium for Atmospheric Research on Transport and Transformation. Hundreds of scientists from six countries participated in a six-week-long air quality-climate study.

"It's a huge project," Businger said, "but the balloon is considered by many folks to be a highlight. It's such an amazing demonstration of this unique technology."

The best way to study the aging of the air pollution plume is to follow it with a balloon as it travels through the air so the changes can be monitored, he said.

The balloon served as a marker, with specially equipped airplanes flying around it to gather more data, he said. Scientists on the planes and ground also looked at the data to calibrate and develop instruments for satellites.

Robert Talbot, a principal investigator for the UNH-NOAA Targeted Wind Sensing program, under which four balloons were launched, said the flights indicate ozone concentrations over the North Atlantic can be much higher than previously observed.

The levels approach 200 parts per billion, greatly exceeding U.S. air quality standards, he said. It will take more flights over the Atlantic to determine how persistent the high ozone levels are, Talbot said.