When you have a campaign in a remote area of Patagonia you take everything necessary with you. Knowing the actual (not forecast) winds at all altitudes is extremely helpful on the day of a wave flight. Elizabeth Tattersall led the weather balloon crew last year, so she knew just what to do. Sandra and Loris were her able assistants for this first weather balloon launch in 2018 from El Calafate.
We have predictive software for the track of the balloon given the winds aloft and the amount of helium in the balloon. The winds were very calm at the surface, but directly from the west at altitude. There’s even video of the balloon going straight up with the link at the bottom. We track real time with Loris’ Virtual Balloon Cockpit. It can be found at http://www.perlanproject.cloud/WB/WeatherBalloons.html
The “First Perlan Weather Balloon 2018” YouTube video link is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4klMP1sZtY4
Perlan Soars! Jackie
