One focus of study for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is an annual field program of flights aboard research aircraft (two WP-3D turboprops and a Gulfstream IV-SP jet) flown by NOAA’s Aircraft Operations Center. The Gulfstream flies at 45,000 feet and drops a dropsonde which sends back data as they parachute down through the weather.
These aircraft feature on-board instrumentation such as radars, fixed probes to measure cloud and aerosol particles, expendable probes to measure wind speed temperature and pressure, as well as instruments that are able to remotely determine wave height and sea surface temperature.
The first mission of the The National Hurricane Center’s high altitude Gulfstream IV jet will be flying into a tropical storm so that all the above-mentioned tools (radars, fixed probes, expendable probes etc…) can send back data. Improving the model of of a storm’s trajectory will help predict the location and intensity of winds, surf conditions, and weather.
Links to the Hurricane Research Division’s Twitter feed with details of the flights flown by NOAA’s Aircraft Operations Center is below: http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/
