Using Instrumented Kites and Tethered Balloons to Collect Data with Students in Undergraduate Courses

Flying instrumented kites in the lower troposphere was one of the very first approaches employed by atmospheric scientists to collect measurements above the surface. As technology advanced and sounding systems became more available, the use of kites for atmospheric data collection markedly decreased. Over the last eight years the Department of Geoscience at Hobart & William Smith Colleges (HWS) has been using instrumented kites as an approach for students to collect atmospheric data (primarily profiles of temperature and humidity) in a variety of undergraduate courses. The use of instrumented kites is a low-cost, straight-forward approach to collecting these measurements. More recently the HWS Department of Geoscience has acquired a mobile rawinsonde system and been using instrumented tethered balloons along with instrumented kites to collect atmospheric profile data with students. The methods, equipment, variety of undergraduate course projects, and examples of collected data will be shared during the presentation.