Meteorological Support to the Earthwinds Transglobal Balloon Project.
Abstract The collocation of the Weather Forecast Office and the Desert Research Institute in Reno, Nevada, has fostered a National Weather Service (NWS)—University collaborative effort that provided meteorological forecasting and research support to an experimental aeronautics endeavor. The Earthwinds transglobal ballooning project is an attempt to complete the first nonstop global circumnavigation flight by a lighter-than-air craft, with launch from Stead airfield in Reno. This article describes the cooperative efforts of the Earthwinds operations staff, the NWS office, the Desert Research Institute, and the atmospheric technology industry. Activities included the use of global and regional forecasts, evaluation of local wind and temperature diurnal cycles, numerical simulation of balloon launch trajectories, and onboard atmospheric instrumentation.