On Monday morning, May 23, the 1000th weather balloon in support of MC3E was launched with little fanfare despite the impressive milestone it represents. A major portion of the support for MC3E is for the launching of weather balloons from six different sites within Oklahoma and southern Kansas. Each weather balloon carries a Vaisala RS-92 radiosonde that records measurements of the profile of atmospheric temperature, humidity, pressure, and wind direction and speed. These measurements are crucial for defining the environment in which the convection forms and will be used to build a data set used to drive computer simulations of MC3E storms.
Depending on the expected weather conditions, we launch either four or eight radiosondes from each of the six sites: Pratt (KS), Chanute (KS), Vici (OK), Morris (OK), Purcell (OK), and the ARM SGP Central Facility near Lamont, OK. A dedicated staff of more than 30, comprised of students and local helpers, quietly go about this task often in the wee hours of the morning to help provide this important data set. This dedicated staff includes (students affiliations are indicated):
- Pratt, KS: Parker Huitt, Kenneth Crick, Donald Cook, Clydie Prince, Tracy Messer, Robert Seigel (CSU), Cort Scholton (CSU), Tiffany Meyer (CSU), Elizabeth Thompson (CSU)
- Chanute, KS: Chris Alvarez, Tony Newman, Seth Galemore, Matthew Dawson (FSU), Melissa Petersen (UIll)
- Vici, OK: James Cunningham, Daniel Harnos (UIll), Kim Reed (UIll), Tristan Hall (FSU), Peter Patina (FSU), Matthew Gray (FSU), Joseph Wegman (UIll)
- Morris, OK: John Duncan, Camerron Summers, Raymond Cline, Bruce Sewell, Tim H Ahlstrom
- Purcell, OK: James Rowland, Robin Moore, Leah Nelson, Jim Callison
- ARM SGP Central Facility: Mike Bobbitt, Phil Cardwell, Debi Chaney, Marilyn Dowell, Mary Green, Shawn Muegge, Sandra Schovanec, Mike Shaffer, Lynda Theilen
And of course, thank you to John Shatz and the crew at the SGP Central Facility who provide the organization and oversight for the MC3E radiosonde operations (among many other things).
Submitted by Dr. Michael Jensen, Brookhaven National Laboratory.