1 week Ago By Jesse Ritka
FARGO — It's been one month since the total solar eclipse and while many people traveled to the path of totality to witness the awing alignment of the sun and moon, a group from the University of North Dakota made the trip to do science for NASA surrounding the solar spectacle. Every day the National Weather Service launches two weather balloons from nearly 100 different locations across the United States to gather weather data as the balloon flies up through the atmosphere. And leading up to the April 8th eclipse, NASA teamed up with 75 colleges and institutions for the to release this same type of weather balloon to gather weather data.
Nationwide Eclipse Learning Project Principal Investigator Angela Des Jardins explains the process, “They fly the same sensors, but they flew them once an hour every hour, 24 hours before the Eclipse and six hours after to really understand how the atmosphere is changing in response to the cold dark shadow of the eclipse.” UND Atmospheric Sciences sophomore Carson Turner was one of the 800 students across the country who got to launch the weather balloons as part of the project, “I think the coolest part was definitely doing the actual science. You obviously don't just see the eclipse every day but being in the field and looking at the data come in and setting up all the instruments and balloons was just like something that is really unique.
” A unique experience for the 11 UND graduate and undergraduate students, having to drive 19.
