Syllabus: 

GS3: Science and Technology- developments and their applications and effects in everyday life.

Context: A Silicon Valley startup is set to begin replacing the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) weather balloons with AI-powered alternatives.

More on the News

• Since March, the NOAA has significantly reduced weather balloon launches across the United States following a 25% budget cut by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
• This led to hundreds of layoffs or voluntary resignations, resulting in fewer balloon launches by NOAA.
• Twice a day, around 900 weather stations around the world release weather balloons at the same time.

Weather Balloons

• Weather balloons are a type of high-altitude balloon used for transporting scientific payloads into our upper atmosphere.
• Weather agencies worldwide use these balloons to observe the upper atmosphere, above 5,000 feet, where conditions shape rain, drought, wind, and temperature on Earth’s surface.
• The India Meteorological Department (IMD) also uses weather balloons to measure meteorological variables.

Advent of Weather Balloons

• In 1896, French meteorologist Léon Teisserenc de Bort pioneered the use of weather balloons, leading to the discovery of the tropopause and stratosphere by launching hundreds of balloons carrying meteorographs.
• These balloons allowed higher-altitude observations, but data recorded by meteorographs would not be readily available for weather forecasting, with risks of loss or delays in forecasting.
• The invention of radiosondes in the 1930s solved this by transmitting real-time data.
  Radiosondes are meteorological devices that are used to measure temperature, humidity, pressure, wind speed and direction in the upper atmosphere.
  A weather balloon filled with hydrogen or helium gas carries the radiosonde into the upper atmosphere.
• In 1937, the US Weather Bureau established a network of radiosonde stations that has continued to the present day. 
• India also has a similar network with 56 radiosonde stations across the country.
• Over the years, Radiosondes have become lighter, and longer-lasting, and now use GPS for precise tracking and wind measurement. 
• Today’s weather balloons, made of latex and filled with helium, can reach an altitude of 1,15,000 feet in a journey lasting up to two hours. The radiosonde is suspended 66 feet below the balloon.

Significance of Weather Balloons 

• Weather balloons provide crucial data about the mid-atmosphere, where most weather phenomena occur, an essential piece of the forecasting puzzle.
• These balloons get the detailed lower atmospheric level of temperature and humidity.
• Radiosonde data is crucial for calibrating satellite data, ensuring that the satellite’s observations are recorded accurately. 
• All radiosonde measurements can be accessed worldwide from a central database by researchers. That data help research climate change, El Niño cycles and other weather patterns.

India and Weather Balloon

• India has been actively utilizing weather balloons for meteorological research and atmospheric studies since the 1940s. 
• A significant milestone in this endeavor was the establishment of the National Balloon Facility (NBF) in Hyderabad in 1961, a collaborative initiative between the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).