Ballon-sonde
Ballon-sonde (sounding balloon) was the international name for weather balloons used by meteorologists to collect data from the atmosphere. These could rise to high altitudes, with the air inside expanding at lower pressure, until they burst, at which time they would fall and their measurements could be retrieved.
Gustave Hermite and his assistant Georges Besançon are credited with inventing the ballon-sonde in 1891. Richard Assmann began using them in 1894, and they became a tool of choice for the International Commission for Scientific Aeronautics, established in 1896. Assmann Léon Teisserenc de Bort used ballons-sondes ("L'Aërophile" and "Cirrus", respectively) in taking measurements which led to the discovery of the tropopause and stratosphere.[1][2]
Abbott Lawrence Rotch reported making the first trial of ballons-sondes ("registration balloons") in the United States in 1904. He described them as follows:[3]
In Europe two types of these balloons have been employed recently; viz., large balloons of silk or paper and small balloons of india-rubber, all being filled with hydrogen gas. The economy and ease of inflation, with the advantage of a quick ascension tot he culminating point and restricted drift, led to the adoption in the St. Louis experiments of the latter form, devised by Dr. Assmann, director of the Royal Prussian Aeronautical Observatory, and made by the Continental Caoutchouc and Gutta Percha Company of Hanover, Germany. The balloons used had an initial diameter of approximately six feet when inflated with about 100 feet [sic] cubic feet of hydrogen gas, and carrying parachute and instrument exerted a net lift of nearly two pounds, which is sufficient. Being closed at the mouth they rise at an almost uniform rate of speed, expanding meanwhile until they burst at a height which is dependent upon their initial distension. A parachute, covering the top of the balloon, moderates the fall and it reaches the ground comparatively near the point of departure. The times at which the balloon left the ground and returned to it being automatically recorded and these places being known, the average direction and velocity of the balloon can be calculated, although its velocity is usually greater over the upper portion of tis course. In some cases, two balloons, unequally filled and coupled tandem, are employed, and, as only one balloon bursts, the other is borne slowly to the ground, where it continues to float and serves to attract persons to the spot. If the balloons are not badly torn they may be mended and used again, but, since the rubber has been permanently stretched, its elasticity is impaired and consequently the balloons will not rise as high as before.
A variation uses two balloons, one of which is allowed to burst, so that the apparatus makes a slow descent.[4]
In later English usage, a balloon used (with the aid of a stopwatch) to find the altitude of clouds is called a ceiling balloon, and one used to find wind velocity is called a pilot balloon.[5]
References
- ↑ Michel J. Rochas, "L'invention de la stratosphère", La Météorologie No. 82, August 2013.
- ↑ Klaus P. Hoinka, "The tropopause: discovery, definition and demarcation", Meteorol. Zeitschrift, N.F. 6, December 1997.
- ↑ Abbott Lawrence Rotch, "On the First Observations with Registration Balloons in America", Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Vol. 41, No. 14.
- ↑ Shaw, 1926, Manual of Meteorology, vol. 1, pp. 224–225.
- ↑ Jordanoff's Illustrated Aviation Dictionary, 1942, #282 & #285, p. 57.
| Enclosing categories | Balloon |
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| Keywords | LTA, Meteo, Elasticity |
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This wiki has 0 patents categorized in "ballon-sonde" or "ballons-sondes".
Other techtypes related to ballon-sonde or ballons-sondes: Silk
Publications referring to ballon-sonde or ballons-sondes
- Fonvielle, 1893, Les ballons sonde (Simple title: The balloons probe, Journal: Inv. Nouv.)
- Fonvielle, 1898, Les ballons-sondes de Messieurs Hermite et Besançons et les ascensions internationales (1) (Simple title: The balloons probes of Messrs. Hermite and Besançons and international climbs (1))
- Publication 2432, 1898, Les ballons-sondes (Simple title: The balloons-probes, Journal: L'Aérophile)
- Rykatschew, 1898, Nouveau ventilateur pour les instruments du ballon-sonde (Simple title: New fan for the instruments of the balloon, Journal: Protok. Erste Vers. Int. Aër. Comm.)
- Assmann, 1898, W. de Fonvielle, Ballons-Sondes de MM. Hermite et Besançon et les ascensions internationales. Paris 1898 (Simple title: W. de Fonvielle, Balloons-Sondes de MM. Hermite et Besancon et les ascensions internationales. Paris 1898, Journal: Zeitschr. Luftsch.)
- Fonvielle, 1899, Les ballons-sondes de Messieurs Hermite et Besançons et les ascensions internationales (2) (Simple title: The balloons-probes of Messrs. Hermite and Besançons and the international climbs (2))
- Publication 724, 1904, Die arbeiten der französisch-skandinavischen Station zur Erforschung der Atmosphäre in Hald 1902-1903 (Simple title: The work of the French-Scandinavian station for the study of the atmosphere in Hald 1902-1903, Journal: Ill. Aër. Mitt.)
- Clayton, 1906, Blue Hill observations at St. Louis (Simple title: Blue Hill observations at St. Louis, Journal: Beiträge zur Physik der freien Atmosphäre)
- Assmann and Berson, 1906, Expedition to East Africa (Simple title: Aërological Expedition to Tropical East Africa, Journal: Nature)
- Kuznetsov, 1907, Instruktsiia dlia priozvodstva pod'emov rezniovykh sharovzondov (Simple title: Instructions for making ascents with india-rubber sounding-balloons)
- Palazzo, 1908, Gli esperimenti aerologici del luglio 1907 nel golfo Ligure (Simple title: The aerological experiments of July 1907 in the Ligurian Gulf, Journal: Boll. Soc. Aer. Ital.)
- Rotch, 1910, The relation of the wind to aerial navigation (Simple title: The relation of the wind to aerial navigation, Journal: Aircraft • Epitome Aeronautical Annual)
- Besio Moreno, 1914, Historia de la Navegación Aérea (Simple title: History of Aerial Navigation, Journal: Anales de la Sociedad Científica Argentina)
- Garros et al., 1914, L'Aéronautique (Simple title: L'Aéronautique)
- McAdie, 1917, Principles of Aërography (Simple title: The Principles of Aërography)
