Because kites can do things that satellites, aircraft and balloons can't, according to Balsley who recently spoke about the resurrection of scientific kites at the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing's New Horizons in Science Briefing in Hershey, Penn. In addition, putting pricey scientific instruments aboard instrument packages called radiosondes, which are not tethered and rarely recovered, can put a serious dent in your research grant. They provide a stable platform. They can provide a continuous read of a cross section of the atmosphere since kites can sometimes be kept aloft for days at a time. They can be used over land, water or ice.
Modern kites can reach dizzying heights, hoisting scientific payloads as high as several kilometers.
They're low-tech, perfect for work in remote regions. The new generation of kite-flying weatherfolk have added their own technological twists to scientific kite flying. Some kites are huge, parafoils capable of carrying payloads as heavy as 23 pounds. Tiny sensors can be attached to kite tethers to profile things like electric fields. Data can be radioed to the ground or recorded on board.