Studies of noctilucent clouds from the stratosphere during the 2024 TRANSAT balloon flight

A transatlantic scientific balloon flight (TRANSAT) was conducted between 22 and 26 June 2024. The TRANSAT balloon, operated by the French Space Agency (CNES), floated in the stratosphere at approximately 40 km altitude between Esrange (Sweden) and Baffin Island (Canada) for about 3.8 d. The scientific payload comprised nine instruments, including an optical imager for noctilucent cloud (NLC) studies from the Swedish Institute of Space Physics. The NLC imager consisted of three identical visible-range optical cameras, one of which operated successfully throughout the entire flight, capturing thousands of NLC images. The TRANSAT balloon campaign was supported by ground-based lidar measurements and spaceborne observations from the Swedish MATS satellite. Here, we describe the technical characteristics of the balloon experiment and present early results. Nearly continuous observations of NLC were obtained during the entire flight. A localized warm region in the mesopause was identified as the cause of temporary NLC disappearance, while complex NLC structures exhibiting different motions were found to probably result from horizontal wind rotation with altitude within the mesopause region.