Tag Archives: tropospheric ozone pollution project

Austin Area STEM Teachers Attend Second Weather Balloon Launch

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Weather balloon inflated with helium in front of the Mary Moody Northen Theatre at St. Edward's University prior to its release around 1:30 pm CDT on Thurs., 4 Aug. 2016.

Weather balloon inflated with helium in front of the Mary Moody Northen Theatre at St. Edward’s University prior to its release around 1:30 pm CDT on Thurs., 4 Aug. 2016.

A dozen Austin area STEM middle and high schools teachers participated in the second weather balloon launch from St. Edward’s University on Thursday, 4 August.

The teachers were attending a workshop entitled, “Air Quality in Austin,” as part of the larger Austin Area STEM Teachers Conference, hosted at St. Edward’s University 2 – 5 August.

The air quality workshop is sponsored by a grant from 3M, while the data are provided courtesy the Tropospheric Ozone Pollution Project (TOPP), which has been funded by TCEQ, NASA, Fulbright, and the Shell Center for Sustainability at Rice University.  Our current project at St. Edward’s University is funded by the Capital Area Council of Governments (CAPCOG).

Dr. Steven Fletcher (Assoc. Prof. of Education), Dr. Bill Quinn (Prof. of Biological Sciences), Dr. Paul Walter (Visiting Asst. Prof. of Physics), Ms. Ashley Moreno (undergraduate student), and Dr. Gary A. Morris (Dean of Natural Sciences and Prof. of Physics) led the workshop at St. Edward’s University.

Launch team finishing tying off the balloon and attaching the payload immediately before launch.

Launch team finishing tying off the balloon and attaching the payload immediately before launch.

As part of the workshop, attendees participated in a weather balloon launch around 1:30 pm in front of the Mary Moody Northen Theatre at St. Edward’s.  Another glorious day made for good viewing as the balloon ascended on its journey through the ozone layer to an altitude of 28 km before bursting and descending back to Earth, landing somewhere near Northeast of Johnson City, Texas around 3:30 pm.

You can eventually find all of our project data on the St. Edward’s University Institutional Repository.  A few plots from today’s flight are below.

Ozone (blue), temperature (red), and potential temperature (orange) data from the weather balloon flight of 4 August 2016.

Ozone (blue), temperature (red), and potential temperature (orange) data from the weather balloon flight of 4 August 2016.

 

Google Earth images of the flight path for the Thurs., Aug. 4 weather balloon from St. Edward's Univ. Green are the ascending data and red are the descending data.

Google Earth images of the flight path for the Thurs., Aug. 4 weather balloon from St. Edward’s Univ. Green are the ascending data and red are the descending data.

First Weather Balloon Launch from the Hilltop!

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Preparing to release the balloon in front of Main Building with Austin in the background.

Preparing to release the balloon in front of Main Building with Austin in the background on Saturday, 30 July 2016 – the first flight from St. Edward’s University.

The Tropospheric Ozone Pollution Project (TOPP) has come to the Hilltop!  The project, started by Dean of Natural Sciences Gary A. Morris in Houston in 2004, has since coordinated >750 flights  from Beaumont, College Station, Ft. Worth, Galveston, and Nacodoches in Texas; Valparaiso and Ft. Wayne in Indiana; University Park, PA; Cumberland, MD; St. Louis, MO, and Hastings, MI, as well as Las Tablas, Panama; San Jose, Costa Rica, and Sapporo, Japan.

Now we add Austin, Texas to the list.  With funding from the Capital Area Council of Governments (CAPCOG) and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), the St. Edward’s University team will fly 16 weather balloons to measure ozone along with meteorological data over the next two ozone seasons (2016 and 2017).

Ace Manning (SEU undergraduate) prepares an ozonesonde for flight while Physics Professor Paul Walter supervises.

Ace Manning (SEU undergraduate) prepares an ozonesonde for flight while Physics Professor Paul Walter supervises.

The project’s initial Austin flight occurred on Saturday, 30 July.  The launch team prepped and calibrated the instrument in the John Brooks Williams South Building, then assembled in front of historic Main Building to fill and release the balloon around 2:15 pm CDT.  The balloon ascended past 30 km at a rate of ~ 5 m/s before popping.  Members of the launch team were able to see the balloon (a small white dot) overhead for the entirety of the ascending portion of the flight.

The balloon came down near Spicewood, TX about 2 and a half hours later.  The initial ozone profiles can be found on the project website.

The second weather balloon launch has been scheduled in conjunction with the Austin Area STEM Conference for Thursday, 4 August at around 1:30 pm CDT, weather permitting.  Given the start of the construction project at Main Building, our next launch will occur on the North side of the Mary Moody Northen Theatre Building.  All are welcome to come watch.

Filling the balloon with Austin in the background

Filling the balloon with Austin in the background

Filling the balloon with historic Main Building of St. Edward's University in the background.

Filling the balloon with historic Main Building of St. Edward’s University in the background.

Flight trajectory based on GPS data for 30 July 2016 ozonesonde from St. Edward's University. Map courtesy Google Earth.

Flight trajectory based on GPS data for 30 July 2016 ozonesonde from St. Edward’s University. Map courtesy Google Earth.

Initial ozone (blue), temperature (red), and potential temperature (orange) data over Austin, Texas from ozonesonde flight of 30 July 2016.

Initial ozone (blue), temperature (red), and potential temperature (orange) data over Austin, Texas from ozonesonde flight of 30 July 2016.  The ozone layer is visible near 25 km (the peak of the blue curve), while the tropopause appears near 15 km (minimum of the red temperature curve).

TOPP Alumna Covers Go-For-Launch! at St. Edward’s University

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Natalie Ferrari, one of nearly 100 alumni of the Tropospheric Ozone Pollution Project (TOPP), now works at KXAN as an on-air meteorologist.  She came to St. Edward’s on Tuesday, 12 July, as part of Go-For-Launch! to both give a talk to the participants on her career trajectory as well as to do a story on the camp itself.  You can see that story, which appeared on the 6 pm news on Wednesday, 13 July, here!

During her presentation, she talked about the importance of making connections, pursuing internships, and communicating with others.  Her broadcast career got started with an unpaid internships at Fox affiliate KRIV in Houston during her senior year at the University of Houston (UH).  She worked in Abilene and College Station before arriving in Austin last Fall.

It was the first time Dr. Gary A. Morris, Dean of Natural Sciences at St. Edward’s, and Natalie had met in person in more than 5 years.  Natalie graduated with a degree in Environmental Science from UH in 2011.  While she was there, she took a class in Advanced Atmospheric Data Analysis and Laboratory from Dr. Morris during a semester in which he was a visiting faculty member at UH.  She joined the TOPP team and helped launch weather balloons instrumented to measure ozone as well as temperature, pressure, humidity, wind speed, and wind direction.

“It’s always nice to meet up with former students to see what they’re up to and where they’ve been along the way,” said Dr. Morris.  “I’m very proud of Natalie — she’s made it in a very tough field!  And it’s fun to think that her experience as an undergraduate with our balloon research project might have helped her on that path.”

You can see Natalie on KXAN on the weekend and morning reports.  Thanks to Natalie and KXAN for covering our inaugural Go-For-Launch! event at St. Edward’s University.

Natalie Ferrari (KXAN meteorologist), Mike Foreman (retired NASA astronaut), and Michelle Lucas (founder and CEO of Higher Orbits) at Go-For-Launch, 11 - 13 July 2016 at St. Edward's University

Natalie Ferrari (KXAN meteorologist), Mike Foreman (retired NASA astronaut), and Michelle Lucas (founder and CEO of Higher Orbits) at Go-For-Launch, 11 – 13 July 2016 at St. Edward’s University

2016 Ozonesonde Workshop Sees Largest Enrollment to Date

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Preparing to launch!

Preparing to launch!

The Tropospheric Ozone Pollution Project (TOPP) started in 2004 with a seed grant from the Shell Center for Sustainability at Rice University.  TOPP uses weather balloons with special instruments to measure ozone, temperature, relative humidity, barometric pressure, latitude, longitude, altitude, wind speed, and wind direction all in an effort to understand ozone pollution.

More than 100 students have participated in the project over the years.  While TOPP started in and is primarily focused on Houston, Texas, the project also runs a station in Idabel, Oklahoma (since 2010), and has orchestrated launches in Nacogdoches, Texas; Beaumont, Texas; College Station, Texas; Ft. Worth, Texas; Valparaiso, Indiana; Ft. Wayne, Indiana; Hastings, Michigan; Cumberland, Maryland, and University Park, Pennsylvania in the United States as well as Las Tables, Panama (NASA TC-4); San Jose, Costa Rica (NASA TICOSONDE), and Sapporo, Japan (Fulbright).  The project is actively preparing to begin a program at St. Edward’s University in Austin, Texas during the Summer of 2016.

Each year, faculty and student participants gather at the ozonesonde laboratory at the University of Houston for a workshop during which they learn how to condition, calibrate, safely launch, and monitor the flight data from the ozonesonde instruments.  This year’s group included 8 students from the University of Houston, 2 students from Southwester University, and 6 students from St. Edward’s University.

Thanks to Alex Kotsakis (University of Houston Ph.D. student) for taking the lead in many of the training exercises as well as preparing the laboratory for the many visitors during the workshop.

This project is currently funded by the Capital Area Council of Governments, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, and the Earth Science Division of NASA.

2016 Ozonesonde Workshop participants.

2016 Ozonesonde Workshop participants.