Talk:Wasserkuppe

Usefulness / function to be mentioned
Wasserkuppe has a plateau. With a slight slope?

A plateau surrounded by slopes shields off winds from all directions, wind are deflected from the surface to a certain height. Important is the abundance of trees and bushes. If the plateau has a slight slope, that helps to start a glider by rubber rope and running persons. As persons may run slightly downhill and horizontal flight is sufficient to gain height over ground. Thermal upwind may be expected over the soutward slope of the mountain rim.

Wasserkuppe seems to be 500 km away from the Alps in the south and 500 km away from the sea in the north.

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Stratobowl forms a bowl-shaped depression surrounded by soft mountains.

A bowl with slopes around (like a very flat volcano with crater) acts even better in shielding winds. During a night air cools down and sits like a lake (temperature inversion) in the bowl. Best to start delicate high altitude ballons (non-elastic, only partially filled). No vegetatio (?) helps to lay out the folded balloon before gas filling starts.

For a several hours (daylight time of 12 and more hours) lasting balloon it is helpful, that land stretches about 1000 km in every direction. High altitude means chance of quick winds. Stratobowl is about 1000...1500 away from higher mountains an the Great Lakes, from Mexico and the nearly uninhabited noth of Canada and about 2000 km from the sea, Pcific as well Pacific.

--Helium4 (talk) 16:06, 10 June 2019 (UTC)