Trial balloons in the southern hemisphere.
Superpressure GHOST balloons are being launched from Christchurch, New Zealand, to determine their life, stability, and clustering characteristics at several altitudes. Thtee separate balloons have flown for more than 6 months at 200 millibars, proving capability of the long life that had been hoped for at such middle altitudes and providing preliminary trajectory data for the Southern Hemisphere. Icing problems at lower altitudes have not yet been solved. We expect future flight durations of several years at higher altitudes. If successful, the new balloons will be useful platforms for experimenters concerned with study of large-scale and long-term effects in the stratosphere.
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