A giant balloon mission to improve weather forecasting

A giant balloon mission to improve weather forecasting

Question- A giant balloon to improve weather forecasting was launched by which space agency?
(a) nasa
(b) isro
(c) esa
(d) jaxa
Answer- (a)
Related facts-

  • NASA’s PMC Turbo mission launched a giant balloon on July 8 to study polar mesospheric clouds (PMCs) or Noctilucent clouds at a height of 50 miles above the surface. The mission may help in better weather forecasting.
  • The balloon floated through the stratosphere for days from its launch at Esrange, Sweden, across the Arctic to Western Nunavut,  It captured six million high-resolution images.
  • Data collected from giant balloon will help scientists to understand better the turbulence in the atmosphere, as well as in oceans, lakes and other planetary atmospheres.
  • Noctilucent clouds coalesce as ice crystals on tiny meteor remnants in the upper atmosphere. These clouds are affected by atmospheric gravity waves.
  • The waves play a major role in transferring energy from the lower atmosphere to the mesosphere.
  • This is the first time we have been able to visualize the flow of energy from larger gravity waves to smaller flow instabilities and turbulence in the upper atmosphere.

References-

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2018/nasa-balloon-mission-captures-electric-blue-clouds

https://www.business-standard.com/article/news-ians/nasa-balloon-mission-may-help-improve-weather-forecasting-118092100221_1.html