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Solar Eclipse Impact on Atmosphere with High-Altitude Ballooning

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Abstract

University of Hartford and Tunxis Community College students prepared, tested, and launched a high-altitude balloon successfully during the October 2023 annular and April 2024 total solar eclipse. Key lessons were learned when developing the first balloon for the annular solar eclipse, as the main parachute and payloads were lost after launch. Through collaboration and analysis of the various variables that went astray, new payloads were designed to mitigate risk and successfully collect data during the total solar eclipse. These students traveled to Carbondale, IL where they troubleshooted and tested the various atmospheric payloads in preparation for launch. Atmospheric weather predictions were calculated, and the respective launch location was determined to be in Perryville, MO. The balloon ascended at 6.5 m/s at 18:18 PM UTC where it successfully reached an altitude of 48,000 feet (about 14.63 km) at the time of totality, at 18:59 PM UTC. After the eclipse, the balloon continued to ascend to an altitude of 93,440 ft (about 28.48 km) before burst. After a successful recovery, an Insta360 camera recorded 4k video during the entirety of the total solar eclipse and atmospheric data was recorded. It was determined that pressure during the flight mimicked the standardized atmospheric pressure vs elevation and reached a minimum pressure of 0.24psia at 93,440 ft (about 28.48 km). The temperature was recorded to have dropped 8°F during 90% coverage and totality. The lowest temperature recorded during totality was -23°F, while the lowest flight temperature was -53°F.

Keywords: total solar eclipse, ballooning, atmospheric science

How to Cite:

Camarillo, J., Freedman, S., Piscitelli, C., Rittenburg, A., Krebsbach, A., Lauzier, D., Ho, J., Akyigit, I., Hill, S., Ayala, A., Nunes, E., Esteves, A., Ngethe, D., Fleischmann-Mcgarrah, V., Hornberger, A., Obst, E. & Slaboch, P., (2024) “Solar Eclipse Impact on Atmosphere with High-Altitude Ballooning”, Academic High Altitude Conference 2024(2). doi: https://doi.org/10.31274/ahac.17958