Weather balloon Weather balloon A weather or sounding balloon is a balloon (specifically a type of high-altitude balloon) that carries instruments aloft to send back information on atmospheric pressure, temperature, humidity and wind speed by means of a small, expendable measuring device called a radiosonde. To obtain wind data, they can be tracked by radar, radio direction finding, or navigation systems (such as the satellite-based Global Positioning System, GPS). Balloons meant to stay at a constant altitude for long periods of time are known as transosondes. Weather balloons that do not carry an instrument pack are used to determine upper-level winds and
Weather balloon well as ships and aircraft (usually dropsondes in this case). In recent years weather balloons have also been used for scattering human ashes at high-altitude by companies such as Stardust Ashes, founded by Chester Mojay-Sinclare. The Weather balloon was also used to create the fictional entity 'Rover' during production of the 1960s TV series 'The Prisoner' in Portmeirion, Gwynedd, North Wales, UK in September 1966. This was retained in further scenes shot at MGM Borehamwood UK during 1966-67. Weather balloon A weather or sounding balloon is a balloon (specifically a type of high-altitude balloon) that carries instruments aloft to send