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Arizona Eclipse Ballooning Project

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Abstract

For the 10/14/23 annular and the 4/8/24 total solar eclipses, two teams--(1) Arizona State University/University of Arizona/ Glendale Community College and (2) Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University launched high-altitude balloons from Roswell, NM and Spofford, TX respectively to observe, collect, and analyze atmospheric data during totality. Preliminary analysis of our RFD900 data and data from the University of Houston (UH) (total eclipse only) revealed wave-like patterns that suggest a correlation between the eclipse events and gravity wave activity.

During the total eclipse, adverse weather conditions and balloon rupture resulted in launch delays of Team 1’s balloon missing totality. Team 2’s balloon captured a significant amount of data during and after totality, and UH’s balloon gathered most of its data before and during totality. Collaboration with UH has provided a broader temporal dataset to capture atmospheric data before, during, and after totality. This allows for a deeper analysis of the total eclipse’s effect on gravity wave patterns over a longer timeline.

Team 1’s ground station team broadcast each launch live on YouTube from Roswell, NM (annular eclipse) and Uvalde, TX (total eclipse). Both livestreams served as key outreach initiatives aimed at providing insight into each launch event. April’s stream garnered significantly more attention than October’s, as did livestream/eclipse viewing events held on the ASU campus. Such outreach contributed to exposing atmospheric science and high-altitude engineering to a wider range of people.

 

How to Cite:

Banks, C., Do, J., Miller, M., Ontiveros, R., Blanchard, S., Moore, E., Adamu, R., Brown, C., Derrick, T., Kwolek, A., Lopez, C., Pujary, V., Topiwala, M., Zapata, M. & Sharp, T. G., (2024) “Arizona Eclipse Ballooning Project”, Academic High Altitude Conference 2024(2). doi: https://doi.org/10.31274/ahac.17941