1. Eye of the Storm: Observing Hurricanes with a Small Unmanned Aircraft System
- Author
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Joshua B. Wadler, Evan A. Kalina, Edward J. Dumas, George H. Bryan, Brittany A. Dahl, Altug Aksoy, Jun A. Zhang, Kelly Ryan, Gijs de Boer, Xiaomin Chen, Terry Hock, Aaron M. Farber, Frank D. Marks, Jonathan Neuhaus, Ronald J. Dobosy, and Joseph J. Cione more...
- Subjects
Atmospheric Science ,010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences ,Meteorology ,Eye ,0207 environmental engineering ,Environmental science ,02 engineering and technology ,020701 environmental engineering ,01 natural sciences ,0105 earth and related environmental sciences - Abstract
Unique data from seven flights of the Coyote small unmanned aircraft system (sUAS) were collected in Hurricanes Maria (2017) and Michael (2018). Using NOAA’s P-3 reconnaissance aircraft as a deployment vehicle, the sUAS collected high-frequency (>1 Hz) measurements in the turbulent boundary layer of hurricane eyewalls, including measurements of wind speed, wind direction, pressure, temperature, moisture, and sea surface temperature, which are valuable for advancing knowledge of hurricane structure and the process of hurricane intensification. This study presents an overview of the sUAS system and preliminary analyses that were enabled by these unique data. Among the most notable results are measurements of turbulence kinetic energy and momentum flux for the first time at low levels ( more...
- Published
- 2020
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