What is a Weather Balloon?

A balloon is a kind of lifting device, which is the main tool currently used in high-altitude observation. Compared with other lifting devices (aircraft, rockets, satellites, etc.), it has the characteristics of no power, low cost, and convenient use. It has a wide range of applications. According to different requirements, the shape, rise speed (translation or landing), load, reachable height, and color of meteorological balloons are various.

A balloon is a kind of lifting device, which is the main tool currently used in high-altitude observation. Compared with other lifting devices (aircraft, rockets, satellites, etc.), it has the characteristics of no power, low cost, and convenient use. It has a wide range of applications. According to different requirements, the shape, rise speed (translation or landing), load, reachable height, and color of meteorological balloons are various. ^[1]

At the beginning of the development of meteorological balloons, paper or textile skins filled with hot or hydrogen gas were used. By the end of the 19th century, inflatable rubber balloons with good elongation had been made, which increased the height that the balloons could reach and expanded the range of high-altitude detection. In the 1960s, large non-expandable thin-film plastic balloons were increasingly used in boundary layer detection, level detection at fixed heights worldwide, and detection tests in the stratosphere.

There are two types of weather balloons:

The balloon skin of the inflatable balloon is made of highly elastic rubber. After the inside of the balloon is inflated, the pressure difference between the inside and outside of the ball is very small. The balloon can expand freely as the atmospheric pressure decreases. The balloon can rise up to burst. Generally, it is used in atmospheric vertical detection. There are two types of rubber for the ball: natural rubber and synthetic rubber (neoprene). In order to maintain the elasticity of the ball, the rubber must be appropriately added with cold resistance, ozone resistance and light aging resistance Agents, in addition to adding anti-static substances to prevent hydrogen explosion.

The non-inflatable balloon's skin is made of polyethylene plastic film and polyester film. Generally, it works under overpressure. The skin is almost non-stretchable and can maintain a certain shape. It is used for horizontal detection and making fixed-height balloons. Tethered balloons and more. Polyethylene film has better performance than rubber, low temperature resistance, little influence of ultraviolet light, low air permeability, and high tensile strength, so it can be used to make balloons with a longer life and a larger load. ^[1]