If you’ve taken Sophomore English, you know every hero in literature follows a common template known as the hero’s journey. The same is true for the biannual journey of the SLUH weather balloon—it feels a call to venture into the unknown, but always makes it home. Last week, chemistry and Environmental STEM teacher Bill Anderson and his Environmental STEM class launched the balloon, which collects data that the class can then analyze.

     Weather balloons are used by scientists and meteorologists to soar high into the atmosphere to collect weather data with their payload of data-collecting technology. 

     This is the fifth year Anderson’s class has launched a balloon.. 

     “For the fall class, we start in August as soon as we start school … and then for the class that starts in January, we want to get a launch in winter,” explained Anderson. 

     On the day of the 2022 launch, the group trekked out to the grassy field by the Field House with the balloon set, ready to contribute their part to an over five-year class project. The balloon, soaring into the air, would see the end of its marvelous mission less than 24 hours later. Its payload landed later that day in Coalmont, Ind. This location is in part due to the season the balloon was launched in, winter. A common trend found among winter weather balloon launches is that the winds are stronger and more eastbound than the spring/fall launch. 

     “In the winter, it always travels farther,” concluded Anderson.

     Data collected about the balloon’s journey includes altitude, speed, and atmospheric pressure. 

     Over the years, SLUH has released 12 balloons. Each flight has given the class a wide range of data points;  classes can then compare the most recent flight’s data to previous flights to gauge how the atmosphere changes between seasons and over the course of an extended period of time.  

     “Our 12 launches is a very narrow window … (but) we’re starting to see patterns in the structure of the atmosphere that I think are very surprising to the students,” said Anderson. 

     With the data these flights have provided, the students have taken on tasks like graphing and analyzing the patterns, even tying their data to the threat of global warming. Their final task is to make a video about the data they’ve found. 

     “It’s such an interactive experience where we're not just sitting down and taking notes,” said senior Ben Ridgway. “I like applying all the learning in class to the real world.”