Payload motions detected by balloon-borne fluxgate-type magnetometers Original Research Article

During the INTERBOA balloon campaign of August 1996 in the northern part of Sweden, 3 balloons were equipped with sensitive fluxgate magnetometers in addition to other instruments. We investigated the complicated motions of the gondolas. A correlation between the variation of the rotation frequency of the gondolas and the changes in altitude of the balloons associated with the day-night effect is evident. We also report a possible coupling induced by the 5–6 min vertical oscillations of the open stratospheric balloons through the triggering of argumentary excitation of sustained oscillations with a discrete spectrum of stable amplitudes.