The 1985-1986 South Pole balloon campaign

• Main Authors: E.A. Bering, III, J.R. Benbrook, J.M. Howard, D.M. Oro, E.G. Stansbery, J.R. Theall, D.L. Matthews, T.J. Rosenberg
• Format: Report
• Language: English
• Published: Physics Department, University of Houston-University Park/Physics Department, University of Houston-University Park/Physics Department, University of Houston-University Park/Physics Department, University of Houston-University Park/Physics Department, University of Houston-University Park/Physics Department, University of Houston-University Park/Institute for Physical Science and Technology, University of Maryland/Institute for Physical Science and Technology, University of Maryland 1987
• Subjects: Amundsen-Scott; Austral; South Pole; Antarc*; Antarctica; Memoirs of National Institute of Polar Research; Polar Research; South pole
• Online Access: https://nipr.repo.nii.ac.jp/?action=repository_uri&item_id=2194; http://id.nii.ac.jp/1291/00002194/; https://nipr.repo.nii.ac.jp/?action=repository_action_common_download&item_id=2194&item_no=1&attribute_id=18&file_no=1

This paper will provide an overview of the University of Houston-University Park/University of Maryland-College Park balloon program that was carried out at Amundsen-Scott Station, South Pole, Antarctica, during the 1985-1986 austral summer. The paper will emphasize objectives, instrumentation and operations. The quality of the data and periods of special interest will be discussed while final conclusions will be left necessarily to a later time. The primary experimental tools used in this program were unmanned stratospheric balloon payloads. The balloons used were helium-filled and had a volume of 5100m^3. The payloads had a mass of 24.5kg, giving a nominal float altitude of 32km. The payloads were instrumented with three-axis, doubleprobe field detectors and X-ray scintillation counters. Secondary instrumentation onboard measured the stratospheric conductivity, the ambient temperature and pressure. Three of the payloads also included tone-ranging transceivers. Equally essential to the program are the ground-based data from the South Pole Station Cusp Lab, the newly developed conjugate observatory, the Goose Bay HF radar, the Sφndrestrφm radar, and satellite data from the DE spacecraft. In the month starting on 16 December 1985 and ending 16 January 1986,8 successful balloon flights were conducted, ranging in duration from 6 to 103h 30min. A total of 468h 30min of data were obtained under a wide range of magnetic conditions. Periods of particular interest include 19 December 1985,28 December 1985,30 December 1985,2-3 January 1986,and 7-8 January 1986.