The project is about a novel method to measure the wind in the ABL. We will describe a wind retrieval method based on tracking a HAB with GNSS sensors. These sensors are built in navigational devices from balloonists and cell phones from passengers.
A HAB is an object suspended in the air due to its buoyancy and is unable to resist the wind, thus a HAB can be considered as a Lagrangian drifter. However, balloon motion and the wind are not necessarily similar, especially in case of a wind change due to wind shear or wind gusts. Due to its inertia, the balloon needs some time to adapt and to become in equilibrium with its driving force. During this adapting process passengers will sense wind.
In this project we would like to address the following research questions:
1. Are hot-air balloon winds a pie-in-the-sky conjecture or a novel method for ABL wind
retrieval?
2. Are hot-air balloon winds competitive with other ABL wind measurements?
3. What does the hot-air balloon wind make so unique?
4. What correction is necessary to account for the balloon’s inertia?
5. Can smart-phones be used to collect the data?
6. What is a typical error in the wind derived from a hot-air balloon?
7. What kind of devices do you need to obtain the measurements?
8. Can hot-air balloon observations be applied in numerical weather prediction models?
9. What are typical circulations that are caught by hot-air balloon tracks?
10. What kind of adaptations are necessary in a data assimilation module of a numerical weather prediction model?
11. What is the recommended application of hot-air balloon winds?