FOLKS — Weather observers launch several hundred weather balloons into Earth's atmosphere on a daily basis. Those observers only ever expect to see a small fraction of the devices returned to them.
Balloons carry devices called radiosones that gather weather data like temperature, humidity and air pressure. They travel as high as 125 miles, before the balloons burst and a parachute carries the materials back to Earth.
"There are instructions for basically how you can just put it in the mailbox and it'll go back to the system and they'll refurbish it," said Richard Carlson of Pacific Weather, Inc. "But unless someone actually comes across it, the instruments just kind of lie there and rot."
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The balloons and the radiosones are made mostly of biodegradable material. The goal is to pose as little damage to the environment as possible, Carlson said.
The National Weather Service estimates it receives 20 percent of them back. Carlson thinks that number might be optimistic, but he admits he's encountered some interesting balloon sightings in his 30 years as a weather observer.
One instance happened in 1995, shortly after a series of Sarin gas attacks on Tokyo's subway system. Carlson said someone saw the burst balloon hanging on a power line in Port Angeles. It had "flammable" warning signs on it, and the eyewitness thought it might be a similar plot here.
"Someone reported it and the school went into lockdown and they sent out two to three people in hazmat suits to basically get the radiosone," Carlson said. He added that the hydrogen used to fill the balloon goes away after it bursts in the sky, and poses no chemical or biological threat when the balloon material returns to Earth.
Each balloon launch carries a price tag of about $200. Annually, that amounts to about $13.5 million dollars of the National Weather Service budget. A drop in the bucket, Carlson says, considering weather plays a factor in such large-scale economic factors like global trade and air travel.
"This is a very cost effective technology that the weather service is still using that generates information to help determine literally billions of dollars worth of commerce," he said.
To see a weather balloon launched from the Quileute Airport in Forks, watch "KIRO 7 PinPoint Weather: Personalizing Your Forecast" here.
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