SKERRIES 8

SKERRIES was a project developed to collect climatology information on the seasonal and year-to-year variability of stratospheric CFCs, water vapour and atmospheric electrical parameters by regular balloon flights from Esrange. It was a collaboration between the Swedish Institute of Physics, the Meteorological Institute at Stockholm University and the University of Cambridge.

Each flight transported several instruments onboard:

DESCARTES a lightweight instrument for the measurement of long-lived trace gases. The instrument was originally developed at the University of Cambridge. It was designed to fly piggyback on other payloads, with a low weight of about 16 kg and no need for telemetry. The instrument collected samples by letting a measured volume of air pass through a tube containing a Carboxen adsorbent. The measured species include CFC-11, CFC-113, CCl4 and CH3CCl3.

ERISKAY and EDAY two instruments aimed to measure atmospheric and magnetospheric electric fields. The first one was a 4-probe instrument to measure all 3 vector components of the electric field, incorporating also a 3-axis magnetometer. It was designed to measure the atmospheric (vertical) electric field during ascent and descent and the magnetospheric (horizontal) electric field at float. The Second one was a simpler version which measured only the atmospheric vertical electric field, at heights above the tropopause.

MARTIN an acoustic balloon-borne instrument to measure temperature fine structure near the tropopause developed by IRF and the Technical University Graz. It made use of the fact that the speed of sound is to a very good approximation proportional to the square root of temperature. The instrument provided a basic time resolution of over 700 Hz and 1 mK in temperature.

An optical HYGROMETER for nighttime use originally built at the Atmospheric Physics group at Stockholm University. It was usually flown on sounding rockets but also participated in SKERRIES balloon flights.

Balloon launched on: 12/16/2001 at 4:58 utc
Launch site: European Space Range, Kiruna, Sweden  
Balloon launched by: Swedish Space Corporation (SSC)
Balloon manufacturer/size/composition: Zero Pressure Balloon  
Flight identification number: SKERRIES 9
End of flight (L for landing time, W for last contact, otherwise termination time): 12/16/2001 at  
Balloon flight duration (F: time at float only, otherwise total flight time in d:days / h:hours or m:minutes - ): ~ 3 h
Landing site: Close to the Finland border
Campaign: SKERRIES  

The balloon was launched on December 16th, 2001 from the balloon launch pad of ESRANGE near Kiruna, Sweden at 4:58 UTC. Total flight time was approximately 3 hours. The payload landed close to the Finland border.

This flight was part of the Hygrosonde-2 campaign that took place on 16 December 2001 at Esrange/Sweden with the aim to investigate the small scale distribution of water vapour in the middle atmosphere in the vicinity of the Arctic polar vortex. In situ balloon and rocket-borne measurements of water vapour were performed by means of OH fluorescence hygrometry. The combined measurements yielded a high resolution water vapour profile up to an altitude of 75 km.

The balloon overlapped with the main rocket flight in time. It reached a top altitude of 25 km, providing also profiles of temperature, winds and density.

• List of balloons launched from ESRANGE SSC Space website (via Archive.Org)
• Middle atmospheric water vapour and dynamics during the Hygrosonde-2 campaign 16th ESA Symposium on European Rocket and Balloon Programmes and Related Research, 2 - 5 June 2003
• Middle atmospheric water vapour and dynamics in the vicinity of the polar vortex during the Hygrosonde-2 campaign Atmos. Chem. Phys., 9, 4407-4417, 2009
• Middle atmospheric water vapour and dynamics in the vicinity of the polar vortex during the Hygrosonde-2 campaign Atmos. Chem. Phys., 9, 4407-4417, 2009