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Based in Jacksonville, Fla., CAMEX research aircraft will fly over, through and around hurricanes. (NASA)

Release: 01-275

NASA study to brave storms in quest for better prediction, understanding of hurricanes

As this year's hurricane season rolls in, a team of researchers participating in a NASA study is waiting. Armed with airplanes, robotic aerial vehicles and a fleet of sophisticated instruments, they're ready to meet these potentially deadly and destructive storms head-on, gathering data vital to improve hurricane modeling and prediction.

They're part of the Convection And Moisture EXperiment (CAMEX) -- the fourth in a series of field research investigations sponsored by the Earth Science Enterprise at NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC. The mission unites researchers from 10 universities, five NASA centers and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Based out of the Naval Air Station at Jacksonville, Fla., this year's mission will run from Aug. 16 through Sept. 24 -- traditionally the most active part of the hurricane season.

During CAMEX, researchers will gather storm data from multiple sources, including aircraft, unpiloted aerial vehicles, satellite observations, ground-based radar, and other ground-based sensing instruments. Unique in this mission is the fact each storm will be monitored simultaneously from near sea level to 65,000 feet.

Temperature, pressure, humidity, precipitation, wind speed, lightning and ice crystal sizes are examples of the kinds of information that will be collected. These data are expected to provide additional insight to hurricane researchers and forecasters who continually strive to improve our understanding of these storms.

"One reason NASA studies hurricanes is to understand the best way to use information from NASA resources, such as its satellites, to provide better warnings to the American public and people around the world affected by hurricanes," said Robbie Hood, CAMEX mission scientist from NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.

"During the last CAMEX mission in 1998, we flew over hurricanes and collected a vast amount of data, sampling the hurricanes' upper regions at altitudes of 35,000 feet (10,600 meters) or higher," said Hood. "This year, we're asking ourselves additional questions, such as, 'How does a hurricane intensify?' and 'What is its rainfall potential after it comes to shore?' The highest number of hurricane-related deaths are due to inland flooding, so inland rainfall is something we will be monitoring very closely."

The CAMEX team plans to fly into the season's hurricanes aboard two NASA planes, the ER-2 and DC-8, both from NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, Calif. Carrying a series of instruments, these aircraft will fly over, through, and around selected hurricanes as they approach landfall in the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, and along the East Coast of the United States.

The DC-8, equipped with instruments that will measure the storms' structure, environment and changes in intensity and tracking, will fly into storms at 35,000 to 40,000 feet (12,200 meters). At the same time, the specially equipped ER-2, a high-altitude research plane, will soar above storms at 65,000 feet (19,800 meters).

NASA also is funding the flight of several unpiloted aerial vehicles called the Aerosonde Robotic Aircraft, managed in conjunction with the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Small, robotic aircraft designed for collection of meteorological data over oceans and remote areas, the Aerosondes will operate over the North Atlantic Ocean taking observations in the lower atmosphere. In the first use of unpiloted aircraft in an operation of this type, the Aerosondes will skim the ocean surface collecting data on atmospheric temperature, pressure, relative humidity, and winds ­ data that cannot be obtained by any other method.

Although investigating hurricanes is the primary objective of CAMEX-4, separate flights will study thunderstorm structure, precipitation systems, and atmospheric water vapor profiles.

This portion of CAMEX-4 is known as Keys Area Microphysics Project (KAMP). The project seeks improved precipitation estimates from passive and active microwave instruments ­ equipment that detects precipitation and surface water by measuring natural microwave emissions from cloud water, cloud ice, rainfall and surface water. Flights for the microphysics project will be approximately 300 nautical miles (560 km) from the Key West, Fla., area.

The hurricane study is part of NASA's Earth Science Enterprise, a long-term research program dedicated to better understanding the total Earth system and the effects of natural and human-induced changes on our global environment.