Grays Harbor College is now home to a new radiosonde launch site operated by the Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes (CW3E) at the University of California San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography. CW3E is using a space in GHC’s 1700 Building on the lower campus to collect data that supports research on atmospheric rivers and extreme weather in the Pacific Northwest.
CW3E staff, including Lead Engineer Douglas Alden and Field Operations Manager Subin Yoon, Ph.D., were on campus for the first series of weather balloon launches beginning early in the morning of February 7. The timing coincided with a forecasted atmospheric river that was expected to reach the region. Radiosondes, which are weather instruments attached to balloons, were released every three hours beginning at 1:00 a.m. PST to help reduce forecast uncertainty associated with the storm.
The new site at GHC has already created opportunities for hands-on learning. On Super Bowl Sunday, GHC students and community members assisted with a radiosonde launch, gaining experience with atmospheric science. The group saw how the sensors collect data as the balloons rise through the atmosphere and learned how that information supports weather forecasting.
Members of the GHC community will continue to have opportunities to observe CW3E launches during significant weather events. More information about the radiosonde program is available at cw3e.ucsd.edu/cw3e_radiosondes.