Sondewatch: Balloon Tracker

Sondewatch tracks the weather balloons launched from meteorological stations around the world, live, and tells you where each one will come down. Twice a day, hundreds of radiosondes climb more than 30 kilometres into the stratosphere, measuring the air on the way up. When the balloon bursts, the instrument parachutes back to earth and lands in a field, a forest or a garden. Sondewatch shows you every one within range of where you are. ON THE MAP Every radiosonde and amateur high-altitude balloon nearby, coloured by whether it is climbing, falling or down. Tap one to see its track so far, the predicted path to the ground and the landing point. FROM WHERE YOU STAND Distance and direction to the balloon and to its landing point, with an arrow that turns with your compass. Its elevation above your horizon, its straight-line range, and whether it is above your radio horizon, with its transmit frequency so you can listen on a scanner. THE FLIGHT Altitude, climb rate, ground speed, burst height and time, time aloft and predicted landing time. The launch site, the sonde model, its battery, its GPS satellites and how many stations are receiving it. THE ATMOSPHERE Charts of altitude over time, temperature and dew point by height, and wind by height, drawn from the measurements the sonde sent on its way up. The freezing level, the tropopause and the strongest wind of the flight. LAUNCHES The launch sites nearest you, with their schedules in your local time, the sonde types and frequencies they fly, and a reminder before each launch. THE CHASE Watch a balloon and turn on Chase Mode to be alerted as you close on it or its landing point. Record what you recover with a photo and a note, and report your find to the sonde-hunting community if you wish. WIDGET Nearest Landing shows the balloon coming down closest to home, on your Home Screen or Lock Screen, or counts down to the next launch when nothing is near. Works on iPhone and iPad. Metric or imperial, following your region by default. No account and no tracking. Your location stays on your device, and only a rounded search area is sent to find balloons nearby. Telemetry and landing predictions come from SondeHub, a volunteer network of receiving stations, used under the Creative Commons BY-SA 2.0 licence.