Weather balloons could unlock Phoenix monsoon knowledge

Weather balloons could unlock Phoenix monsoon knowledge

Local researchers are turning our backyard into a laboratory in hopes of figuring out how extreme heat, rapid urban growth and desert dust influence the severity of monsoons.

Why it matters: Summer storms are becoming more dangerous, and the new study aims to help forecasters better predict Phoenix weather.

State of play: The project, directed by ASU and funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, will be the most comprehensive extreme weather study in Phoenix history, according to the university.

What they're saying: "Urban desert environments like Phoenix are incredibly complex. You have extreme heat, rapid development and monsoon systems interacting in ways we don't yet fully understand," Vernon Morris, an associate dean at ASU's New College of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences, told ASU News.

What we're watching: There are three main goals for the 18-month project:

  • Determine how Phoenix itself — our buildings, roads, sprawl and surrounding desert — affects how storms develop.
  • Investigate the role of dust, pollution and wildfire smoke on cloud formation and rainfall.
  • Understand what other factors, such as land surface and mountains, affect when and where storms hit.

    • ASU Foundation professor Vernon Morris (left) and field engineer Mark Manriquez prepare to launch a meteorological balloon. Photo: Courtesy of Charlie Leight via ASU News

    How it works: From July to September, researchers will launch weather balloons multiple times per day from ASU's West Valley campus.

  • The balloons, which collect temperature, humidity, wind speed and atmospheric particle data, expand to roughly the size of a bus before bursting near the edge of the atmosphere and returning back to Earth via parachute.
  • The data the balloons gather will be combined with storm monitoring from the ground.

    • The intrigue: Giant balloons floating above the West Valley may cause some concern, or at least curiosity. Researchers say they're conducting outreach to make sure the public is in the loop about their study.

  • "It's not alien. It's not surveillance. It's purely a scientific endeavor," Morris told ASU News.

    • What's next: Researchers will do a second data collection with weather balloons from November to March to investigate winter storms.