The 2024 solar eclipse provided a unique opportunity for Saint Louis University meteorology students to enhance their understanding of solar events. The team, consisting of graduate students Maggie Ideker, Riley Jackson, and Benjamin Schaefer, along with seniors Jimmy Bergmann, Carter Hickel, and Jack Rotter, conducted experiments during the eclipse’s totality at Trail of Tears State Park in Jackson, Missouri.
Weather balloons and drones were deployed to measure small-scale weather changes before, during, and after the eclipse. The sensors recorded various data points including temperature, relative humidity, pressure, wind speed, and wind direction.
Maggie Ideker operated one of the two SLU drones used in the study. She expressed her eagerness to analyze the collected data to compare findings from the drones with those from the weather balloons.
Benjamin Schaefer highlighted the significance of this event: “This is the culmination of years of work,” he said. “This was a once in a lifetime experience and I’m so glad that I got to experience this here with this group of people.”
Riley Jackson shared his enthusiasm for studying weather phenomena since childhood: “If you had told 10-year-old me that I would get to be doing this, I wouldn’t have believed it.”
Schaefer also emphasized his interest in comparing forecasted predictions with actual data gathered during the eclipse: “I want to see if the modeling holds up. Much of what we did today was based on the last eclipse in 2017,” he noted. “I want to see if there are ways to improve upon that for the next one.”
