Weather balloon
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 📖 Term
Contents 5
| Type | Term |
|---|---|
| Also known as | weather balloons |
| On the Timeline | 1 event, 1947 |
A weather balloon is a high-altitude balloon, usually made of latex and filled with hydrogen or helium, that carries an instrument package called a radiosonde into the upper atmosphere to measure pressure, temperature, humidity and wind. Weather balloons are among the most common explanations for UFO sightings, and "it was a weather balloon" became a byword for official dismissals after the 1947 Roswell incident.[1][2]
History
French meteorologist Léon Teisserenc de Bort began launching instrumented balloons in 1896 from Trappes, near Paris, and his work led to the discovery of the tropopause and the stratosphere. In the 1920s radiosondes were developed that sent their readings back by radio.[1]
How they work
A balloon expands as it rises into thinner air and usually bursts at around 35 to 40 km, after which the instruments descend by parachute. Between 900 and 1,300 stations around the world release balloons routinely, usually at 00:00 and 12:00 UTC each day; the United States alone releases about 76,600 a year. Balloons and their instruments occasionally cause accidents; in October 2025 a United Airlines flight struck a weather balloon over Utah.[1]
UFO explanations
Because they are so common and fly so high, balloons have been blamed for many UFO reports. In July 1947 the debris found near Roswell was identified by the Army Air Forces as a weather balloon with a radar reflector; in the 1990s the Air Force said it had come from Project Mogul, a classified program using long trains of balloons to detect Soviet nuclear tests. The 2021 U.S. intelligence assessment of UAP explained only one of 144 cases, as a large deflating balloon.[2][3]
On the UAP Timeline
- Robert Shirkey affidavit on the Roswell debris flights (8 July 1947) — Lt. Robert Shirkey's affidavit says he saw debris loaded for flights from Roswell to Fort Worth and Wright Field.
References
- Weather balloon — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- Roswell incident — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- "Preliminary Assessment: Unidentified Aerial Phenomena", ODNI (25 Jun 2021) · intelligence.gov · archived copy
This page was last edited on 29 October 2026. Articles are written in our own words from the sources listed under References; disputed claims are attributed to the people who made them.
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