UNITED NATIONS
\nWeather balloons play an important part of a vast, intricate global observation system, providing vital information for climate monitoring and forecasters, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), a Geneva-based UN agency, said Friday.
\nOn the heels of recent news reports about Canada and the United States shooting down several flying objects, including an alleged Chinese \u201cspy balloon\u201d, inside their borders, WMO points out that weather balloons provide just a tiny fraction of the millions of observations gathered worldwide daily.
\nOn Thursday, US President Joe Biden made public remarks after days of speculation over three unmanned aerial objects shot down last weekend by the US military, saying that they were most likely tied to private companies, recreation or research institutions.
\nMore than 50 satellites collect information from space, and about 400 aircraft operated by some 40 commercial aircraft companies gather input from the skies, WMO says.
\nAbout 400 moored buoys, 1,250 drifting buoys, and 7,300 ships help from the seas in addition to 10,000 automated and land-based observing stations across the planet, the agency highlights.
\nEvery day, free-rising latex balloons are released simultaneously from almost 900 locations worldwide. Nearly 1,000 balloons gather daily observations that provide input in real-time.
\nThe valuable information gathered contributes to computer forecast models, local data for meteorologists to make forecasts and predict storms, climate monitoring and data for research to better understand weather and climate processes.
\nComputer forecast models that use weather balloon data are used by all forecasters worldwide, WMO said.
\nEquipped with battery-operated radiosondes that capture observations, the floating information collectors are airborne for around two hours.<\/p>\n
They measure pressure, wind velocity, temperature and humidity from just above ground, to heights of up to 35 kilometres, sustaining temperatures as cold as -95\u00c2\u00b0C (-139\u00c2\u00b0F), before bursting and falling back to Earth under a parachute.<\/p>\n
Playing a key role as part of the world\u2019s global observing network for decades, they are the primary source of above-ground data. More than two thirds of weather balloon stations make observations twice a day and another 100 and 200 report daily.<\/p>\n
Their valuable input feeds the Global Observing System, among the most ambitious and successful instances of international collaboration of the last 60 years, WMO said.<\/p>\n
The system consists of individual surface and space-based observing systems owned and operated by a plethora of national and international agencies, it added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
UNITED NATIONS Weather balloons play an important part of a vast, intricate global observation system, providing vital information for climate monitoring and forecasters, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), a Geneva-based UN agency, said Friday. On the heels of recent news reports about Canada and the United States shooting down several flying objects, including an alleged […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":314588,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-314556","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n