North Dakota Space Grant Consortium Supports Eclipse Ballooning Team

It’s been one month since the total solar eclipse and while many people traveled to the path of totality to witness the awing alignment of the sun and moon, a group from the University of North Dakota made the trip to do science for NASA surrounding the solar spectacle.

Every day the National Weather Service launches two weather balloons from nearly 100 different locations across the United States to gather weather data as the balloon flies up through the atmosphere.

And leading up to the April 8th eclipse, NASA teamed up with 75 colleges and institutions for the Nationwide Eclipse Ballooning Project to release this same type of weather balloon to gather weather data.

Nationwide Eclipse Learning Project Principal Investigator Angela Des Jardins explains the process, “They fly the same sensors, but they flew them once an hour every hour, 24 hours before the Eclipse and six hours after to really understand how the atmosphere is changing in response to the cold dark shadow of the eclipse.”

Read the full article on Inforum.com.

Author Credit: Jesse Ritka

Image Credit: UND Atmospheric Sciences Team

Original Post Date: May 8, 2024