HIBISCUS was an European funded scientific campaign devoted to study the chemical species involved in stratospheric ozone depletion at global-scale in the tropics.

As the compounds are transported vertically from surface level to the tropopause by deep convection, the main goal of the campaign was to study a number of dynamical, microphysical, radiative and chemical aspects of the Upper Troposphere and Lower Stratosphere (UT/LS) related to deep convection in the region.

It was part of the Tropical phase of the VINTERSOL effort so it's costs were supported by the European Commission and partners national research agencies as a shared project.

It was carried out from the balloon launch facilities of the Instituto de Pesquisas Meteorologicas (IPMET) of the Universidade Estadual de Sao Paulo in Brazil in 2004.

The campaign, however, started three years before, when was carried out a first technical campaign in 2001 and a series of balloon launches in 2003 englobed in the ENVISAT Pre-HIBISCUS campaign dedicated to the validation of ENVISAT satellite data and the testing of new instrumentation.

During both efforts were used open stratospheric balloons as well Infrared Montgolfier (MIR) balloons both provided and operated by the balloon group of the French Space Agency (CNES). The MIR balloons -a special kind developed by French scientists back in the 70's- were specially suited to perform circumglobal flights along the tropics.

The HIBISCUS campaign started in January 2004 and lasted until March during the southerm hemisphere summer.

The experimental approach, based on successful techniques developed for the Arctic European campaigns in the 90's, was to combine in situ measurements by a variety of instruments flown on small balloons for few hours in Brazil during the summer convective season and on MIR balloons for several weeks around the world in the tropics, with support of ground-based measurements in Brazil, simultaneous observations at La Réunion and state of the art transport, microphysical, radiative and chemical modelling.

In all 31 flights were made, including several long duration missions that circled the globe following the same latitude of Bauru.

Launch base	Date	Flight Duration	Experiment	Payload landing place or cause of the failure
Baurú GLB (SP)	1/31/2004	2 h 10 m	SAOZ (Systeme d'Analyse par Observation Zenithale) + SAOZ-BrO + CNR-ISAC	In a sugar cane field in Paraguaçu Paulista located 100 km from launch site.
Baurú GLB (SP)	2/4/2004	---	SAOZ (Systeme d'Analyse par Observation Zenithale) + IR RADIOMETER	Somewhere near the NW Australian coast.
Baurú GLB (SP)	2/5/2004	---	SAOZ + SAOZ-BrO + DIRAC	80 km W from launch site.
Baurú GLB (SP)	2/6/2004	~ 13 d	RUMBA + TURBULENCE	On the Pacific Ocean (22.34º S - 149.65º W)
Baurú GLB (SP)	2/10/2004	---	BACKSCATTER SONDE	--- No Data ---
Baurú GLB (SP)	2/12/2004	---	BACKSCATTER SONDE	--- No Data ---
Baurú GLB (SP)	2/12/2004	1 d	RUMBA + O3/H2O	On Brazil territory (21.09º S - 50.97º W)
Baurú GLB (SP)	2/12/2004	53 d	RUMBA + TURBULENCE	60 kms W of the town of Franklin, Queensland, Australia
Baurú GLB (SP)	2/13/2004	---	BACKSCATTER SONDE	--- No Data ---
Baurú GLB (SP)	2/13/2004	---	NILU CUBE	80 km N of Bauru, Sao Paulo, Brazil
Baurú GLB (SP)	2/13/2004	4 h 25 m	DESCARTES + µLIDAR + µDIRAC + O3 SSS + H2O SAW + µSDLA	90 km N of Bauru, Brazil
Baurú GLB (SP)	2/16/2004	7 h 21 m	DESCARTES + LABS + AIRS + µDIRAC + O3 SSS + H2O SAW + TDLAS	Near the Parana state border, Brazil
Baurú GLB (SP)	2/16/2004	---	BACKSCATTER SONDE	--- No Data ---
Baurú GLB (SP)	2/17/2004	---	BACKSCATTER SONDE	--- No Data ---
Baurú GLB (SP)	2/19/2004	---	BACKSCATTER SONDE	--- No Data ---
Baurú GLB (SP)	2/21/2004	---	BACKSCATTER SONDE	--- No Data ---
Baurú GLB (SP)	2/21/2004	---	BACKSCATTER SONDE	--- No Data ---
Baurú GLB (SP)	2/23/2004	---	BACKSCATTER SONDE	--- No Data ---
Baurú GLB (SP)	2/24/2004	~ 4 h	µDIRAC + µLIDAR + µSDLA + O3 SSS + H2O SAW + AIRS	150 kms. SE of Bauru, Brazil
Baurú GLB (SP)	2/24/2004	---	BACKSCATTER SONDE	--- No Data ---
Baurú GLB (SP)	2/25/2004	---	NILU CUBE	40 kms. S of Baurú.
Baurú GLB (SP)	2/26/2004	---	DESCARTES + µDIRAC + LABS + O3 SSS + H2O SAW + TDLAS	--- No Data ---
Baurú GLB (SP)	2/26/2004	39 d	SAOZ (Systeme d'Analyse par Observation Zenithale) + IR RADIOMETER + LIGHTING/BLUE JET SENSOR	On the Pacific Ocean (9.16º S - 210º W)
Baurú GLB (SP)	2/29/2004	80 d	TECHNOLOGICAL FLIGHT	In Madagascar Island
Baurú GLB (SP)	3/3/2004	30 m	µLIDAR	A few kilometers NE of Baurú
Baurú GLB (SP)	3/6/2004	39 d	OZONE AND WATER VAPOUR SENSORS	In Antarctica (74º S - 88º E)
Baurú GLB (SP)	3/7/2004	56 d	TURBULENCE SENSOR	On the Indian Ocean south (56.4º S - 56.2º E)
Baurú GLB (SP)	3/9/2004	27 d	OZONE AND WATER VAPOUR SENSORS	In Antarctica (77º S - 127º W)
Baurú GLB (SP)	3/10/2004	9 d	µLIDAR	In the Western Pacific half way between New-Caledonia and Fiji
Baurú GLB (SP)	3/11/2004	37 d	TECHNOLOGICAL FLIGHT	In the Antarctic Sea (58º S - 151º W)