Abstract
Long-range weather predictions have great scientific and economic potential, but require precise global observations. Small balloon transponders could serve as lagrangian trace particles to measure the vector wind, which is the primary input to long-range numerical forecasts. The wind field is difficult to measure; it is at present poorly sampled globally. Distance measuring equipment (DME) triangulation of signals from roughly a million transponders could sample it with sufficient accuracy to support {approximately} two week forecasts. Such forecasts would have great scientific and economic potential which is estimated below. DME uses small, low-power transmitters on each transponder to broadcast short, low-power messages that are detected by several small receivers and forwarded to the ground station for processing of position, velocity, and state information. Thus, the transponder is little more than a balloon with a small radio, which should only weigh a few grams and cost a few dollars.
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