Weather Balloons

 

Balloons aren't just for parties. Some are used for science to measure the weather. A weather observer for the National Science Foundation named Mark let me help him blow up a big weather balloon that had a very special computer tied to it. I got to be the one who released it into the air. It's so big that it will almost go up into space. It will go 60,000 feet into the atmosphere. That's more than 11 miles. As it goes up it measures the temperature and other things so he can tell what's happening and what's going to happen with the weather. This is important because planes can't fly when the weather gets bad down here in Antarctica.

Mark also let me write on the balloon, so I wrote a message to Kelsie and her mom and her baby sister. It was a lot of fun.

He said I could do it again. I mentioned that you, Mrs. Van Pelt's Kindergarten class, might want a special message written on a scientific weather balloon that will be released into the sky from Antarctica. He liked that idea. So, if your class would like, let me know what special message to write on the next balloon I get to let go of and I will take a picture of it for you and put it here for you to see. Your message will go so far up in the sky that it will almost be in space!

                                                          

Thanks!