Purpose of the flight and payload description
The AirCore system is a lightweight atmospheric sampling device consisting of a long, narrow stainless-steel or fluoropolymer tube coiled into a compact shape and carried aloft by a balloon or other airborne platform. Before launch, the tube is flushed and filled with a gas of known composition to remove residual air and verify that the system is leak-free. As the payload ascends and external pressure decreases, the fill gas gradually escapes through the open end of the tube. When the balloon reachs the maximum altitude, the AirCore system is released and begins descending under parachute, the increasing external pressure forces ambient air into the tube in a continuous, ordered manner, so the air entering last corresponds to lower altitudes and the air already inside corresponds to higher altitudes. After landing, the tube is sealed to preserve the stratified sample.
In the laboratory, a carrier gas is introduced to push the stored air through a trace-gas analyzer, effectively transforming the spatial sequence of air inside the tube into a vertical profile of atmospheric constituents such as carbon dioxide and methane. The method provides high-resolution profiles with accuracy comparable to flask sampling while being far lighter, cheaper, and easier to deploy than most traditional instrumentation. Its resolution depends on tube length, diameter, and the time elapsed before analysis because molecular diffusion slowly smooths the internal gradients. Despite its simplicity, the system yields dense and reliable vertical profiles from the stratosphere to the surface, making it valuable for greenhouse-gas monitoring, satellite validation, and atmospheric process studies.
AirCore was created at NOAAs Earth System Research Laboratory, led by Pieter Tans and colleagues, who conceived and built the first system. After its introduction, the concept was further developed and adapted by several research groups, most notably the Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique in France, the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, and Goethe University Frankfurt in Germany, all of which contributed new designs, high-resolution versions, and expanded applications.
Details of the balloon flight
Balloon launched on: 10/12/2022 at ~ 12:00 UTC
Launch site: Quzhou, Provincia de Zhejiang, China
Balloon manufacturer/size/composition: Zero Pressure Balloon
End of flight (L for landing time, W for last contact, otherwise termination time): 10/12/2022
External references
- Unveiling High-Resolution CH4 Profiles Over Southeast China: Novel Insights From AirCore Balloon Observations Geophysical Research Letters, Volume 52, Issue 19, id.e2025GL116203
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