LAKELAND, Fla. — The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is expanding its ability to monitor hurricanes from above, inside, and below.
NOAA’s P-3 Hurricane Hunter aircraft has been doing tropical cyclone research for decades, but new technology is allowing scientists to better understand how hurricanes form, intensify and travel.
Hurricane forecasting is taking a step forward with the launch of new technology that can access unmonitored areas inside a hurricane.
“So the P-3 orbits around hurricanes collecting data, but when the Altius is launched from the P-3, it can actually go into the eye of the hurricane and circle around into the most dangerous parts of the hurricane,” said Matt Bebb with NOAA Business Development.
NOAA is using drones, including the Altius 600, to go inside the storm where conditions are the most chaotic and too dangerous for crewed aircraft to go into. The Altius 600 was deployed for the first time last year to explore Ian, a Category 5 hurricane.
“It’s collecting data in the Hurricane Boundary Layer, which is a very under-reported part of the hurricane. If we can get more measurements of the Hurricane Boundary Layer, we can better understand how hurricanes will increase in intensity,” said Bebb.
New automated technology and drones that go into hurricanes by air, ocean, and below the ocean's surface allow hurricane hunters to safely collect atmospheric and ocean data.
“We have computer models that predict how strong the storm is going to be and where it's going to go, but in order to do that, we have to atmospheric things like this [Skyfora Streamsonde]. We also need the ocean, so something like the Saildrone gives us the ocean,” said Dr. Joe Cione, NOAA Meteorologist and Hurricane Hunter.
The information collected is sent to the National Hurricane Center.
“Ultimately, we want to send all this information to modeling centers so they can predict accurately as they can, where they’re going to be and how strong they’re going to be. Our job is to get people out of harm's way,” Cione said.
