[1] Unlike radiosonde balloons which collect vertical atmospheric sounding data over the release point during a relatively short ascent lasting a few hours, horizontal sounding balloons stay aloft for much longer periods lasting several weeks or months, floating at a constant-density altitude.
The GHOST design explored the performance a superpressure balloon with a spherical two-layer PET film envelope holding the gas inside at a higher pressure than the surrounding atmosphere, allowing it to maintain a nearly constant altitude.
[1] This record-breaking balloon, launched from Christchurch, New Zealand by the U.S. National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), continued to fly for an additional 76 days, completing 35 circumnavigations of the Earth.
For the measurements of the GARP program, the demonstrated flight lifetime at low altitudes (below 12 km (7.5 mi)) proved to be too short, despite many redesigns of the balloon system to improve the performance.
[citation needed] Vincent E. Lally of NCAR received the Otto C. Winzen Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics in 2003 for his pioneering work in the application and development of superpressure balloons for worldwide atmospheric measurements, including the GHOST program.