Tethered balloon

KITcube operates two tethered balloon systems for the exploration of the lower troposphere. The sensor systems are in-house developments of IMKTRO. The sondes are connected to a helium inflated balloon with a volume of 5 m³. The connection is implemented with an extremely stable rope. This enables ascents up to 1000 m height. The sonde measures temperature, humidity, wind direction and wind velocity. The measured data are sent to the receiver system on slightly varying frequencies between 400 MHz and 406 MHz. The tethered balloon system can be operated for wind speeds up to 7 m/s.

Fig. 2 shows measurements of the tethered balloon during the NaFoliCA campaign in the Namib desert. The colour codes indicate the horizontal wind speed, the arrows the horizontal wind vector, and the black line the relative humidity. After 00:00 UTC a saturation with fog formation is observed in the lowest 300 to 400 meter.

Technical data