Refine your search
Collections
Co-Authors
Journals
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z All
Kumar, B. Suneel
- TIFR Zero-Pressure Balloon Programme Crosses a Milestone
Abstract Views :185 |
PDF Views:77
Authors
Affiliations
1 TIFR Balloon Facility, ECIL Post, Hyderabad 500 062, IN
2 Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Colaba, Mumbai 400 005, IN
1 TIFR Balloon Facility, ECIL Post, Hyderabad 500 062, IN
2 Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Colaba, Mumbai 400 005, IN
Source
Current Science, Vol 120, No 11 (2021), Pagination: 1672-1678Abstract
High-altitude scientific balloons offer unique opportunities to carry scientific payloads to stratospheric altitudes at a cost several orders of magnitude lower than the corresponding satellite missions. Balloon-borne payloads are easy to implement allowing quick experiment turn-around times and inexpensive reflights can be conducted as the payload is recovered most of the times. In addition, in situ and high-resolution spatial and temporal measurements of the earth’s atmosphere can be made that might not be feasible with satellites. They are also used as a testbed to prove technologies for future satellite missions. Scientific ballooning was initiated at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Mumbai in 1945, when scientific instruments were flown to stratospheric altitudes using a cluster of weather balloons for cosmic-ray research. The need to have balloons float at constant stratospheric altitudes for studies in astronomy led to the initiation of work on the design and fabrication of zero-pressure polyethylene (ZP) balloons at TIFR in 1956. Since then, several ZP balloon flights have been conducted for studies in astronomy, atmospheric science, astrobiology, balloon technology and space technology development, leading to several important scientific results. In 2018, the TIFR balloon programme crossed an important milestone of conducting more than 500 ZP balloon flights. This article presents recent advancements made in some areas of scientific ballooning and details of balloon experiments conducted in the past two decades.Keywords
Cold Brittle Point, Gore, Satellite Missions, Scientific Payloads, Stratospheric Altitudes, Zero-Pressure Balloon.Full Text
References
- Redkar, R. T., Scientific ballooning in India. Indian J. Radio Space Phys., 1991, 20, 169–175.
- Damle, S. V. and Joshi, M. N., Developments and advances in scientific balloon capability at the TIFR National Balloon Facility, Hyderabad. Adv. Space Res., 1998, 21(7), 941–948.
- Gokhale, G. S., Menon, M. G. K. and Redkar, R. T., Stratospheric flights over tropical latitudes with polyethylene balloons of large volume. Proc. Indian Acad. Sci. Sect. A, 1966, 64(2), 57–63.
- Suneel Kumar, B. et al., Mechanical properties of ANTRIX balloon film and fabrication of single cap large volume balloons. Adv. Space Res., 2008, 42, 1691–1697.
- Manchanda, R. K., Scientific ballooning in India. Adv. Space Res., 2006, 37, 2015–2020.
- Manchanda, R. K., High energy X-ray observations of NGC 5506.Adv. Space Res., 2006, 38, 1387–1392.
- Manchanda, R. K., Characteristics and performance of thin LaBr3(Ce) crystal for hard X-ray astronomy. Adv. Space Res., 2011, 47, 30–36.
- Manchanda, R. K., Current developments and future plans at NBF@Hyderabad and prospects for long duration balloon flights. Trans. JSASS Aerospace Technol. Jpn, 2010, 8(27), 55– 62.
- Roy, J. et al., Performance of large area X-ray proportional counters in a balloon experiment. Exp. Astron., 2016, 42(2), 249–270.
- Mookerjea, B. et al., Mapping of large scale 158 μm (CII) line emission: Orion A. Astron. Astrophys., 2003, 404(2), 569–578.
- Kaneda, H. et al., Large-scale mapping of the massive starforming region RCW38 in the (CII) and PAH emission. Astron. Astrophys., 2013, 556, A92.
- Arimura, S. et al., Wide-area mapping of 155 micron continuum emission from the Orion molecular cloud complex. Publ. Astron. Soc. Jpn., 2004, 56(1), 51–60.
- Presenna Kumar, B. et al., High altitude balloon borne Lidar experiment for the study of aerosols and clouds. COSPAR, 2010, 38, 4055.
- Pallamraju, D. et al., Day time wave characteristics in the mesosphere lower thermosphere region: results from the balloon-borne investigations of regional-atmospheric dynamics experiment. J. Geophys. Res. Space Phys., 2014, 119, 2229–2242.
- Suresh Babu, S. et al., Free tropospheric black carbon aerosol measurements using high altitude balloon: Do BC layers build ‘their own homes’ up in the atmosphere? Geophys. Res. Lett., 2011, 38, L08803.
- Gurubaran, S. et al., A high-altitude balloon experiment to probe stratospheric electric fields from low latitudes. Ann. Geophys., 2017, 35, 189–201.
- Vernier, J. P. et al., The balloon measurement campaigns of the Asian tropopause aerosol layer. Bull. Am. Meterol. Soc., 2018, 99(5), 955–973.
- Narlikar, J. V. et al., A balloon experiment to detect microorganisms in the outer space. Astrophys. Space Sci., 2003, 285, 555– 562.
- Shivaji, S. et al., Janibacter hoylei sp. nov., Bacillus isronensis sp. nov. and Bacillus aryabhattai sp. nov., isolated from cryotubes used for collecting air from the upper atmosphere. Int. J. Syst. Evolution. Microbiol., 2009, 59, 2977–2986.
- Suneel Kumar, B. et al., Development of ultra-thin polyethylene balloons for high altitude research up to mesosphere. J. Astronom. Instrum., 2014, 3(2), 1440002.
- Nott, J. et al., Balloon aspects of StratEx world altitude record sky dive. In AIAA Balloon Systems Conference, Dallas, TX, USA, 22–26 June 2015.
- Sinha, P. R. et al., Development of balloon-borne impactor payload for profiling free tropospheric aerosol. Aerosol Sci. Technol., 2019, 53(3), 1–38.
- A Balloon-Borne Experiment for Quasi-lagrangian Frame of Reference Measurements of Intrinsic Frequency Spectrum of Gravity Waves in ihe Stratosphere
Abstract Views :169 |
PDF Views:76
Authors
Karanam Kishore Kumar
1,
K. V. Subrahmanyam
1,
B. Suneel Kumar
2,
K. V. Suneeth
3,
M. Pramitha
1,
N. Koushik
1,
N. Nagedra
2,
G. Stalin Peter
2
Affiliations
1 Space Physics Laboratory, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, Thiruvananthapuram 695 022, IN
2 Tata Institute of Fundamental Research Balloon Facility, Hyderabad 500 062, IN
3 India Meteorology Department, New Delhi 110 003, IN
1 Space Physics Laboratory, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, Thiruvananthapuram 695 022, IN
2 Tata Institute of Fundamental Research Balloon Facility, Hyderabad 500 062, IN
3 India Meteorology Department, New Delhi 110 003, IN
Source
Current Science, Vol 122, No 1 (2022), Pagination: 98-103Abstract
In the present communication, first results from an experiment to measure intrinsic frequency spectrum of atmospheric gravity waves using balloon-borne quasi-Lagrangian frame of reference observations in the mid-stratosphere over a tropical station, Hyderabad (17.4°N, 78.2°E) are discussed. A zero-pressure polyethylene balloon with GPS-sonde payload was drifted at ~31 km altitude for a horizontal distance of ~100 km for measuring pressure, wind and temperature at 1 sec temporal resolution. The measured altitude of the balloon showed variability within ±100 m, thus ensuring a near horizontal drift. These observations are used to estimate the intrinsic frequency spectrum of gravity waves in the mid-stratosphere over an Indian observational site. The successful experiment has opened up a new avenue for studying not only the stratospheric gravity wave dynamics, but also for exploring the horizontal mapping of stratospheric trace gases.Keywords
Balloon-Borne Experiment, Gravity Waves, Intrinsic Frequency Spectrum, Stratosphere, Trace Gases.Full Text
References
- Fritts, D. C. and Alexander, M. J., Gravity wave dynamics and effects in the middle atmosphere. Rev. Geophys., 2003, 41(1), 1003; https://doi.org/10.1029/2001RG000106.
- Holton, J. R., The role of gravity wave induced drag and diffusion in the momentum budget of the mesosphere. J. Atmos. Sci., 1982, 39(4), 791–799; https://doi.org/10.1175/15200469(1982)039<0791: TROGWI>2.0.CO;2
- Antonita, T. M., Ramkumar, G., Kumar, K. K. and Deepa, V., Meteor wind radar observations of gravity wave momentum fluxes and their forcing toward the mesospheric semi-annual oscillation.
- J. Geophys. Res., 2008, 113, D10115; https://doi.org/10.1029/ 2007JD009089.
- John, S. R. and Kumar, K. K., TIMED/SABER observations of global gravity wave climatology and their interannual variability from stratosphere to mesosphere lower thermosphere. Clim. Dyn., 2012, 39(6), 1489–1505; https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-012-1329-9.
- Fovell, R., Durran, D. and Holton, J. R., Numerical simulations of convectively generated stratospheric gravity waves. J. Atmos. Sci., 1992, 49, 1427–1442.
- Alexander, M. J., Holton, J. R. and Durran, D. R., The gravity wave response above deep convection in a squall line simulation. J. Atmos. Sci., 1995, 52, 2212–2226.
- Van Zandt, T. E., A universal spectrum of buoyancy waves in the atmosphere. Geophys. Res. Lett., 1982, 9, 575–578.
- Rapp, M., Strelnikov, B., Müllemann, A., Lübken, F. J. and Fritts, D. C., Turbulence measurements and implications for gravity wave dissipation during the MaCWAVE/MIDAS rocket program. Geophys. Res. Lett., 2004, 31, L24S07; https://doi.org/10.1029/2003GL019325.
- Zhang, F., Wei, J., Zhang, M., Bowman, K. P., Pan, L. L., Atlas, E. and Wofsy, S. C., Aircraft measurements of gravity waves in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere during the START08 field experiment. Atmos. Chem. Phys., 2015, 15, 7667–7684.
- Schoeberl, M. R., Jensen, E., Podglajen, A., Coy, L., Lodha, C., Candido, S. and Carver, R., Gravity wave spectra in the lower stratosphere diagnosed from project loon balloon trajectories. J. Geophys. Res.: Atmos., 2017, 122, 8517–8524; doi:10.1002/ 2017JD026471.
- Pramitha, M., Kishore Kumar, K. and Venkat Ratnam, M., Observations and model predictions of vertical wavenumber spectra of gravity waves in the troposphere and lower stratosphere over a tropical station. J. Atmos. Sol. Terr. Phys., 2021, 216, 105601.
- Vincent, R. A. and Reid, I. M., HF Doppler measurements of mesospheric momentum fluxes. J. Atmos. Sci., 1983, 40(5), 1321–1333; https://doi.org/10.1175/15200469(1983)040<1321:HDMOMG>2.0.CO;2
- Ramkumar, G. et al., Seasonal variation of gravity waves in the Equatorial Middle Atmosphere: results from ISRO’s Middle Atmospheric Dynamics (MIDAS) program. Ann. Geophys., 2006, 24, 2471–2480; doi:10.5194/angeo-24-2471-2006.
- Preusse, P. et al., Space-based measurements of stratospheric mountain waves by CRISTA. 1. Sensitivity, analysis method, and a case study. J. Geophys. Res., 2002, 107(D23), 8178; https://doi.org/10.10292001JD000699.
- Hertzog, A. and Vial, F., A study of the dynamics of the equatorial lower stratosphere by use of ultra-long-duration balloons: 2. Gravity waves. J. Geophys. Res., 2001, 106, 22745–22761.
- Appu, K. S. et al., Spatial distribution of meteorological parameters around 900 hPa level over the Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean regions during the IFP-99 of the INDOEX programme as revealed from the constant altitude balloon experiments conducted from Goa. Curr. Sci., 2001, 80, 89–96.