Global horizontal sounding technique

The Global horizontal sounding technique (GHOST) program was an atmospheric field research project for gathering weather data with balloons. Unlike radiosonde balloons which collect vertical atmospheric sounding data over the release point during a relatively short ascent lasting a few minutes, horizontal sounding balloons stay aloft for much longer periods lasting several weeks or months, floating at a predetermined altitude. The GHOST program studied the movement of upper-air currents and tested the feasibility of using horizontal sounding techniques to provide the necessary weather observations for very long-range global scale numerical weather prediction. The GHOST project was part of the Global Atmospheric Measurements Program (GAMP). Eighty-eight GHOST balloons were launched in a 10-year periodcite web | url = http://www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/Lighter_than_air/meteorology/LTA13.htm | title = Ballooning and Meteorology in the Twentieth Century | accessdate = 2007-10-17 | author= Voss, Linda | publisher = U.S. Centennial of Flight Commission | work = ] starting in March 1966.

The GHOST design used a superpressure balloon with an aluminized PET film envelope holding the gas inside at a higher pressure than the surrounding atmosphere, allowing it to maintain a nearly constant altitude. These gas balloons float at a constant density altitude, where the balloon displaces a mass of air equal to its own, and are not affected by solar heating and subsequent expansion of the lifting gas as in a zero-pressure balloon. This makes them suitable for studying atmospheric motions at a constant pressure level above the surface.

The electronics payload was suspended below the balloon on a tether that also acted as a high frequency band radio antenna. The GHOST payload included a sun angle sensor that varied the repetition rate of its Morse code radio signal to allow technicians on the ground to locate it using an HF receiver and a set of sun angle tables.

On September 29, 1968 a 10-foot (3-meter) GHOST balloon at an altitude of approximately 52,000 feet (16,000 meters) completed a full 365 days in flight, becoming the first balloon to fly for a full year.cite book|publisher=A.F.E. Press|city=Los Angeles|title=The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aviation and Space|chapter=GHOST program|volume=6|year=1971|pages=pp. 978-979|id=LCCN|68|0|14013] This record-breaking balloon, launched from Christchurch, New Zealand by the U.S. National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), continued to fly for an additional 76 days, completing 35 circumnavigations of the Earth. The longest flight of the program was 744 days, or just over two years. The balloons could not be flown in the Northern Hemisphere because the Soviet Union would not permit overflights at the time.cite web | url = http://www.ucar.edu/communications/staffnotes/0404/marcel.html | title = UCAR Staff Notes: Kaye Howe wins YWCA award | date = 2004-04 | accessdate = 2007-10-17 | publisher = University Corporation for Atmospheric Research| work = UCAR Communications, Staff Notes Monthly ]

Vincent E. (Vin) Lally of NCAR received the Otto C. Winzen Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics in 2003 for his pioneering work in the application and development of superpressure balloons for worldwide atmospheric measurements, including the GHOST program. [cite web | url = http://www.aiaa.org/content.cfm?pageid=401&AwardView=Detail&participationID=191114&fromX=Award | title = Winzen Award Recipient - 2003 | accessdate = 2007-10-17 | publisher = American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics ] [cite web | url = http://www.ucar.edu/communications/staffnotes/0303/lally.html | title = Vin Lally wins prestigious ballooning award | date = 2003-03 |accessdate = 2007-10-17 | author= Hosansky, David | publisher = University Corporation for Atmospheric Research| work = UCAR Communications, Staff Notes Monthly ] Winzen was a pioneer of modern ballooning, and this award recognizes outstanding contributions to the advancement of free-flight balloon systems or related technologies.

References

Further reading

*cite journal
author = Angell, J.K.
year =
title = Some Climatological Aspects of the Circulation in Southern Hemisphere Temperate Latitudes as Determined From 200-Millibar GHOST Balloon Flights
journal = Monthly Weather Review
volume = 100
issue = 2
pages = 107–116
doi = 10.1175/1520-0493(1972)100<
doilabel = 10.1175/1520-0493(1972)100
*cite journal
author = Lally, V.E.
year = 1966
title = The Global Horizontal Sounding Technique (ghost) and Southern Hemisphere Test Plans
journal = Problems of Atmospheric Circulation
url = http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1966pac..conf...27L
accessdate = 2007-10-16
*cite journal
author = Lally, V.E.
coauthors = Lichfield, E.W.
year = 1969
title = Summary of status and plans for the GHOST balloon project
journal = American Meteorological Society, Bulletin
volume = 50
pages = 867–874
url = http://www.csa.com/partners/viewrecord.php?requester=gs&collection=TRD&recid=A7014550AH
accessdate = 2007-10-16
*cite book
author = Lally, V.E.
coauthors = Lichfield, E.W.; National Center For Atmospheric Research (us,
year = 1969
title = Summary of Status and Plans for the GHOST Balloon Project
publisher = National Center for Atmospheric Research
isbn =
*cite journal
author = Lally, V.E.
year = 1969
title = Results of the GHOST Balloon Project, 1968(GHOST Balloon Project, emphasizing launch and ascent control and location and life expectancy of superpressure balloons in tropical stratosphere)
url = http://www.csa.com/partners/viewrecord.php?requester=gs&collection=TRD&recid=A6931361AH
accessdate = 2007-10-17
*cite journal
author = Solot, S.B.
coauthors = Angell, J.K.
year = 1968
title = Temperate Latitude 200-mb Zonal Winds from GHOST Balloon Flights in the Southern Hemisphere
journal = Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences
volume = 26
issue = 3
pages = 574–579
url = http://ams.allenpress.com/perlserv/?request=get-abstract&doi=10.1175%2F1520-0469(1969)026%3C0574:TLMZWF%3E2.0.CO%3B2
doi = 10.1175/1520-0469(1969)026<
doilabel = 10.1175/1520-0469(1969)026
*cite journal
author = Solot, S.B.
coauthors = Angell, J.K.
year = 1972
title = The Mean Upper-Air Flow in Southern Hemisphere Temperate Latitudes Determined from Several Years of GHOST Balloon Flights at 200 and 100 mb
journal = Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences
volume = 30
issue = 1
pages = 3–12
url=http://ams.allenpress.com/perlserv/?request=get-abstract&doi=10.1175%2F1520-0469(1973)030%3C0003%3ATMUAFI%3E2.0.CO%3B2
doi = 10.1175/1520-0469(1973)030<
doilabel = 10.1175/1520-0469(1973)030

External links

* [http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761576250_3/Ballooning.html MSN Encarta: Ballooning]