NASA is preparing to launch a new breed of storm chasers later this year, one which they hope will give them greater insight into how severe weather patterns, such as hurricanes, form, and how the various elements of the storm interact with one another as the storm develops and intensifies.
Launching this summer, the mission is a joint project between NASA and the federal government, and is being dubbed the Hurricane and Severe Storm Sentinel (HS3) airborne mission.
While the mission itself is new, the aircraft used to conduct it is not. NASA's Global Hawk, an unmanned aircraft which can soar to altitudes exceeding 60,000 feet, will be responsible for carrying the various instruments, which will be used to analyze the storm where they need to be; right above the heart of it.
These aircraft have previously been employed by NASA for other operations, including the Genesis and Rapid Intensification Processes missions, which were conducted in 2010.
Not one, but two of these Global Hawk aircraft will be sent out to each hurricane of interest, each with different instruments onboard, and different goals. One craft will be responsible for sampling the general storm environment, while the other will be sampling specific attributes of the storm itself, such as the wind and precipitation.
"Hurricane intensity can be very hard to predict because of an insufficient understanding of how clouds and wind patterns within a storm interact with the storm's environment. HS3 seeks to improve our understanding of these processes..." said Scott Braun, principal investigator of the HS3 mission.
The ultimate goal is to develop a better understanding of how hurricanes form, and what factors can or will lead to them becoming fiercer or tamer over time.
This knowledge will be invaluable for predicting the length and ferocity of future hurricanes, and enabling more accurate warnings for those about to be affected by them.
Scheduled to run throughout the course of the upcoming hurricane season, from August to October, the Global Hawks will launch from Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, with the mission being overseen by several other NASA centers, including the Ames Research Center, the Dryden Flight Research Center, the Marshall Space Flight Center, the Goddard Space Flight Center, and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
