Posted on 05/13/2008 12:29:05 AM PDT by neverdem
Three hot-air balloons dropped asphalt shingles, lumber, sticks, leaves and pine needles onto the Morgan County Landfill near here on Sunday so scientists at The University of Alabama in Huntsville could gather data needed to improve tornado warnings.
The payloads dropped by the balloons were similar to the types of debris thrown into the air by tornados that touch the ground. Scientists at UAHuntsville's Earth System Science Center hope the Doppler radar data collected will be a first step toward programming National Weather Service Doppler radar to recognize tornado debris, so more timely and precise tornado warnings might be issued.
"We still have to inspect and analyze the data," said Dr. Walt Petersen, a UAHuntsville research scientist, "but there is a real possibility that we got useful data. We have to go back through and take out the balloons' radar signatures. We should be able to do that and, if we can, whatever is left was the debris."
"I'm just glad to finally do something useful through ballooning," said Dave Knoblock, a hot-air balloon pilot from Montgomery, Ala., whose payload included scrap lumber and wooden shutters...
(Excerpt) Read more at uah.edu ...
Also interesting post time - insomnia?
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