Laura Mallonee
Photo

Up, Up, and Away

Meet the obsessive hunters chasing weather balloons all over Europe.
Image may contain Balloon and Ball
  • VINCENT LEVRAT
    01
    When Roland—or “F5ZV,” as he’s known on ham radio—left his job in Belfort, France a decade ago, he devoted his newfound leisure to a far more peculiar hobby: hunting radiosondes, data-collecting plastic boxes that meteorologists send into the sky on weather balloons.
  • Image may contain Electrical Device and Antenna
    VINCENT LEVRAT
    02
    Roland began using a radio receiver and antenna to track them to the rooftops, parking lots, and random cow pastures where they land. "He was completely obsessed," says Swiss photographer Vincent Levrat, who documented the chase. "He would wake up at night just to hunt."
  • This image may contain Machine and Adapter
    VINCENT LEVRAT
    03
    Levrat lives in the Swiss city of Lausanne, just 45 minutes away from an aerological survey station in Payerne that launches balloons twice a day. (Pictured is test equipment for checking probes before flight.)
  • VINCENT LEVRAT
    04
    Roland, here wandering the Chasseral in Switzerland trying to get a signal, estimates that there are hundreds of other radiosonde hunters across Europe who monitor launch schedules for weather station balloons.
  • VINCENT LEVRAT
    05
    An antenna and radio receiver tuned to the probe's frequency lets them listen to its blips and beeps, which they decode with the computer program SondeMonitor.
  • This image may contain Balloon Ball Human and Person
    VINCENT LEVRAT
    06
    An employee at the Payerne aerological station holds a balloon he will soon attach to a probe.
  • VINCENT LEVRAT
    07
    A radiosonde floats above Lake Neuchâtel in Switzerland. This image was captured with a GoPro on another radiosonde, tethered to the same balloon.
  • Image may contain Electrical Device
    VINCENT LEVRAT
    08
    A probe with its electronics on display.
  • VINCENT LEVRAT
    09
    Somewhere around 100,000 feet, the balloons burst, and the radiosondes parachute back to earth. Hunters use software called Balloon Track to predict the general area where a radiosonde might land.
  • VINCENT LEVRAT
    10
    Levrat’s playful photographs capture a sweeping view of the hunt—from the radiosondes to Roland, dwarfed by his spinning antenna as he roams the landscape, thoroughly enjoying his retirement.
Laura Mallonee is a writer for WIRED covering photography. ... Read More
Contributor
TopicsAMP Stories
Read More
Balloons. NASA Is Using Balloons to Study Space
These souped-up hot air balloons are the training ground for the next generation of space scientists.
Emma Grey Ellis
The Father-Son Team Chasing America's Most Ominous Storms
Mitch Dobrowner travels the United States in search of the country's most ominous, beautiful storms.
Jordan Teicher
The Supersonic Parachutes Carrying NASA's Martian Dreams
A new generation of space scientists is using high tech materials to resurrect the long-neglected supersonic parachute.
Brendan I. Koerner
NOAA's New Satellite Is a Game Changer for Severe Weather
Assuming the 11,500-pound spacecraft makes it into geostationary orbit safely, it'll go by GOES-17.
Robbie Gonzalez
Alphabet Closer to Using Balloons for Telecom in Puerto Rico
Alphabet wins FCC approval to deploy Project Loon balloons to restore telecom service on storm-battered island.
Mark Harris
Artemis II: Everything We Know as Its Crew Approaches the Far Side of the Moon
Artemis II remains on course for its lunar flyby as the crew shares historic photos of Earth, tests key systems for future lunar missions, and attempts to fix the toilet.
Javier Carbajal
Your Art Can Go in This San Francisco Alley
A trio of tech pranksters have launched a website where you can submit artwork and vote on which pieces belong in the final design. Of course, AI will scan for dick pics.
Boone Ashworth
The Future of the Artemis Program Is Riding on Reentry
Entire space programs have been canceled after a failure in the reentry phase. In the final test for Artemis II, astronauts will travel at 32 times the speed of sound as they return from the moon.
Jorge Garay
How and When to Watch the Artemis II Mission’s Return to Earth
Splashdown for the Artemis II crew is scheduled for Friday evening, and NASA will livestream the historic homecoming.
Jorge Garay
5 Mysteries That the Artemis Missions to the Moon Could Finally Solve
The moon is not just a barren rock orbiting the Earth. The Artemis missions could answer the great unknowns that the satellite holds.
Jorge Garay
Senators Demand to Know How Much Energy Data Centers Use
In a letter sent Thursday morning, Elizabeth Warren and Josh Hawley press the Energy Information Agency to mandate annual electricity disclosure for data centers.
Molly Taft
Artemis II Mission Launches Successfully
The crew of Artemis II will not descend to the moon, but their capsule will fly over the far side of its surface.
Jorge Garay