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  • BBC Science Focus Magazine

    TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH

    Aug 06, 2020 4 minutes
    WORDS: DR HELEN PILCHER

    FAIRWEATHER FRIENDS

    ST HELENA, SOUTH ATLANTIC OCEAN

    very day at 11:15am, a team of meteorologists on the Atlantic island of St Helena release a giant latex weather balloon into the sky (previous page). They wear goggles, flash hoods and overcoats ‘just in case’, because the balloons are full of highly-explosive hydrogen (this lighterthan-air gas causes the balloon to ascend). As the balloon rises to a height of more than 30km, a mini weather station or ‘radiosonde’ attached to the balloon’s neck sends back second-by-second information on temperature, humidity, wind speed and pressure. St Helena’s meteorological station (part of which is seen in the image

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