Atmospheric density, temperature and wind measurement techniques during the 1980 Energy Budget Campaign
Document ID: 280
Schmidlin, F. J.1
Philbrick, C. Russell2
Offermann, D.3
1 NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Wallops Flight Facility, Wallops Island, VA, U.S.A.
2 USAF, Geophysics Laboratory, Hanscom AFB, Bedford, MA, U.S.A.
3 University of Wuppertal, Wuppertal, F.R.G.
Abstract
Super Loki rocketsonde systems are described. The datasonde telemeters data to a ground station where ambient temperatures are calculated between 20 and 70 km. The sphere is a passive, radar tracked system which allows density to be calculated between 30 and 90 km. When flown simultaneously the systems give redundant data in the altitudes between 30 and 70 km. The datasonde has a balloon parachute that descends more slowly than a conventional parachute and is more stable. Because of launch constraints the datasondes reached very high apogees, leading to very fast descent velocities. Aerodynamic heating reduced thermistor sensitivity. Anomalous parachute behavior influenced wind sensing until a denser layer was reached. The spheres collapsed above 60 km altitude, but their data, combined with dropsonde data give significant results for 21 flights. These show that the stratosphere is colder than Cospar 72 model predictions and the mesosphere is warmer.
Keywords: parachutes, radar tracking, reference atmospheres, wind profiles
| Citation: | "Atmospheric density, temperature and wind measurement techniques during the 1980 Energy Budget Campaign", Schmidlin, F. J., C. R. Philbrick, D. Offermann, Wuppertal University, Sounding Rocket Program Aeronomy Project: Energy Budget Campaign 1980 Experiment Summary, Wuppertal University, December 1981, pp. 382 - 396, SEE N82-25680 16-46, 1981wusr.rept..382S |