MANTRA (Middle Atmosphere Nitrogen TRend Assesment)

MANTRA is a balloon mission to investigate changes in the concentrations of ozone and other compounds in the stratosphere.

This third MANTRA flight payload consisted of:

- MSC emission radiometer
- MSC SunPhotoSpectrometer
- one FTS (U of Denver)
- Service d'Aéronomie SAOZ
- MSC ozonesonde
- aerosol sonde
- second MSC emission radiometer
- MAESTRO clone
- second FTS (MSC)
- MSC OH spectrometer
- MSC Brewer spectrophotometer
- U of Toronto grating spectrometer
- CRESTech/York U AOTF spectrometer

Balloon launched on: 9/3/2002 at 2:02 CST
Launch site: Scientific Instrumentation Ltd Balloon Launch Facility, Vanscoy, Saskatchewan, Canada  
Balloon launched by: Scientific Instrument Limited
Balloon manufacturer/size/composition: Zero Pressure Balloon 330.000 m3
End of flight (L for landing time, W for last contact, otherwise termination time): 9/3/2002 at 20:00 CST
Balloon flight duration (F: time at float only, otherwise total flight time in d:days / h:hours or m:minutes - ): 18 h
Landing site: At 52.276°N latitude, 100.208°W longitude, near Duck Bay in Lake Winnipegosis, Manitoba province.
Campaign: MANTRA  

The launch took place by dynamic method assisted by launch vehicle at 2:02 a.m. CDT on September 3th. after some cancellations the previous days due to bad weather.

After a nominal ascent phase, float altitude was reached and in the first part of the flight the ground team had some telemetry dropouts for the first few km, fixed by moving ground antenna.

At 10:30 began opening the balloon valve to release helium in order to descend by 1-2 km, hoping to reach an altitude of lower winds based on sonde data.

Continued to release helium in the afternoon, but winds at lower altitudes were higher than expected (up to 42 mph), and mostly heading east

Float altitude varied from ~38 km in the morning to ~34 km after valving down.

At 17:00 the spotter plane went out in pursuit of the gondola. Meanwhile winds veered southwards and slowed, making it possible following the flight for more measurements until 20:00 when the gondola was cut-down.

Landing was at 52.276°N latitude, 100.208°W longitude, near Duck Bay in Lake Winnipegosis, Manitoba province.

• MANTRA program University of Toronto
• Balloon-borne radiometer measurement of Northern Hemisphere mid-latitude stratospheric HNO3 profiles spanning 12 years Atmos. Chem. Phys., 7, 6075-6084, 2007
• MIPAS Ozone Validation by Stratospheric Balloon and Aircraft Measurements 2nd Workshop on the Atmospheric Chemistry Validation of ENVISAT, 2004
• Overview of SCIAMACHY validation: 2002-2004 Atmos. Chem. Phys., 6, 127-148, 2006
• Summertime stratospheric processes at northern mid-latitudes: comparisons between MANTRA balloon measurements and the Canadian Middle Atmosphere Model Atmos. Chem. Phys., 8, 2057-2071, 2008
• Technical Note: Validation of Odin/SMR limb observations of ozone, comparisons with OSIRIS, POAM III, ground-based and balloon-borne instruments Atmos. Chem. Phys., 8, 3385-3409, 2008
• The Validation of the Envisat Chemistry Instruments by Use of Stratospheric Balloons and Aircraft ENVISAT Validation Workshop (ESA SP-531). 9-13 December, Frascati, Italy
• Validation of Envisat Products from SAOZ Balloon Flights ENVISAT Validation Workshop (ESA SP-531). 9-13 December, Frascati, Italy
• Validation of MIPAS-ENVISAT Version 4.61 Operational Data: NO2 2nd. Workshop on the Atmospheric Chemistry Validation of ENVISAT, 2004