Archive of Spotlight Feature Articles

NOAA helps guide balloonist
around the world

by Jana Goldman

"We made him promise only one thing – to listen to us - or else we pack our bags and go back to Belgium," Dehenauw said. "We were his eyes and ears."

When Steve Fossett flew his successful solo around-the-world flight in a balloon last summer, NOAA was right along with him.

Fossett's meteorologists, Luc Trullemans and David Dehenauw, used NOAA computer models for wind currents, trajectory, and weather forecasts during the record-breaking 13 ½ day Southern Hemisphere flight.

"Without the efforts of U.S. scientists, this would not have been possible," said Dehenauw after the flight, acknowledging the help of NOAA's Air Resources Laboratory (ARL) and National Center for Environmental Prediction (NCEP).

A jubilant team rejoices after the successful around the world balloon flight of Steve Fossett (center). Fossett's Belgian meteorologists, David Dehenauw (left) and Luc Trullemans (right) relied on NOAA products to safely guide Fossett on his journey.

He repeated that sentiment during a talk about the adventure at the NOAA Library in Silver Spring.

"I prefer to work with NOAA products," he said, citing particularly ARL's HYSPLIT and NCEP's Eta models.

In fact, if it were not for NOAA, Dehenauw would still be a chemical engineer instead of a meteorologist.

"Belgium does not have a university degree in meteorology," he explained. "So I became a chemical engineer. But one day in the 90s, I typed in 'weather' in a computer search engine and all of these NOAA web sites appeared. I studied all I could get from NOAA."

He made contacts with people at NCEP and began using data available on the Internet.

Every day, he ran forecast models and compared them with observations. One day, he approached the Royal Meteorological Institute of Belgium and asked for a job.

"They were surprised that I knew so much," he recalled. "They were still using European models."

All that was available at that time was a part-time position, which Dehenauw snapped up.

"I realized my dream, thanks to the United States. I will never forget that," he said.

Nestled between The Netherlands and France, Belgium is a country about the size of the state of Maryland. It is known for its beautiful architecture and its delicious chocolates. And ballooning.

Belgium's Royal Meteorological Institute has long been involved with balloons. In 1931, the Institute guided Professor August Piccard, then a professor at Brussels University, when he ascended to 51,775 feet in the first successful attempt to reach the stratosphere.

Five decades later, Belgium saw a boom in commercial ballooning. Dehenauw's colleague Trullemans became interested in balloon weather forecasting after a hot air balloon landed in his garden.

When Dehenauw joined the RMI in 1998, he brought with him a familiarity of the U.S.-based global weather models. He and Trullemans joined forces and used the U.S. models during the successful 1999 Breitling Orbiter 3 around-the-world flight of Bertrand Piccard (grandson of August) and Brian Jones.

In a letter to Bruce Hicks, ARL director, after that flight, Trullemans expressed "delight and gratitude concerning the availability and excellent performance of ARL's READY-site," adding that "it is simply the best there is."

That success led Dehenauw to other ballooning events, notably being named the chief meteorologist of the Gordon Bennett Gas Balloon race in Albuquerque in 1999. He was the first Belgian in that position. Trullemans came along to help guide the Belgian team.

And then came the chance to work with Fossett.

Fossett, a Chicago businessman and adventurer, had tried previously to achieve the solo circumnavigation but had not been successful. Some those attempts were ended by thunderstorms.

"We knew he hated thunderstorms, so we told him that I would guide him around thunderstorms," Dehenauw said.

Using NOAA detailed forecasting models, Dehenauw and Trullemans could see problems three to four days out and have Fossett adjust altitude or course to avoid them.

Mission control for Fossett's "Spirit of Freedom" flight was in St. Louis, Mo. Fossett set off from Northam, Western Australia, allowing for a few days to fly over land just in case there were technical problems with his craft.

The flight plan would take him over the South Pacific, across Chile, Argentina, and the South Atlantic Ocean.

The team at Mission Control communicated with Fossett via satellite e-mail and satellite telephone.

"The first 24 to 48 hours in the Command Center were very calm," Dehenauw said. "Even the press got bored."

From Australia, Fossett flew to New Zealand. The two Belgians saw a cyclone in the area, but they kept Fossett behind it. Hourly satellite images showing thunderstorm activity were extremely helpful to the team, Dehenauw said.

Once during the flight, Dehenauw and Trullemans suggested that Fossett drop to a lower altitude to avoid storms.

"You must remember, balloonists fly high, not low," he said with a smile. "The press were asking 'What are these crazy Belgian meteorologists doing?'"

Fossett had a private plane following him and occasionally the pilot was angry with the Belgians because they had the balloon fly so low that the plane could not safely follow.

"We looked at all altitudes during the mission and we credit NOAA's HYSPLIT with the success of this mission," Dehenauw said.

The Hybrid Single Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory, or HYSPLIT, tracks wind currents and anything that can be carried by the wind.

While Fossett might not have always agreed with the advice given to him by his meteorologists, he always took it.

"We made him promise only one thing – to listen to us - or else we pack our bags and go back to Belgium," Dehenauw said. "We were his eyes and ears."

On the last leg of the trip, the Belgians found Fossett a jetstream that would carry him from the western Indian Ocean to the east.

"We asked him if he would like to break his own speed record," Dehenauw said.

Changing altitude allowed Fosset to fly at 322 km (about 200 miles) per hour, breaking his own record of 270 km (about 166 miles) per hour. Other records were either set or broken during that flight including Fastest Around the World (13 ½ days), Longest Distance Flown Solo in a Balloon (20,482.26 statute miles), and a 24-Hour Balloon Distance (3,186.80 statute miles on July 1).

While Fossett was breaking records, the meteorologists were turning to other NOAA computer products, such as ARL's relative humidity gauge.

"It was comforting to have this product," he explained. "Fossett would see clouds and think they were thunderstorms, but by using this product, we were able to reassure him that they were only high altitude clouds."

So now the balloon was heading towards Australia's west coast and it was time to think about landing.

"The press was all over us. They wanted to know where he was going to land," Dehenauw said. 'We didn't know where he was going to land."

Fossett was eager to get on the ground as well. After spending almost two weeks alone in a capsule, he was exhilarated about making his goal, but also tired. He told the team that once he saw land, he was going to bring the balloon down.

Dehenauw had to talk him out of it. "Too risky, high winds."

Queensland was suggested, a desert area with lighter winds. Fossett agreed.

"We were very happy when he landed," Dehenauw said.

The media attention grew even larger. Dehenauw estimates that he alone gave 100 interviews in 14 days. Most of the media were from the U.S., but there also representatives from Australia and South America.

"We barely had time to do our job, but we wanted to give information to the press," he said.

In many of those interviews, he and Trullemans credited NOAA.

Now that Fossett has donated his capsule to the Smithsonian Institution ("It has his name on it as well as the two bloody Belgians'"), Dehenauw is back at his day job, which includes forecasts on a local television station.

He is so confident of his forecasts that he occasionally bets his salary to the "presenter" or news announcer if he is wrong. He has yet to pay up.

More information on Fossett's Spirit of Freedom flight can be found at http://www.spiritoffreedom.com/

[2/24/03]

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