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Status Report: 01-304

NASA hurricane researchers record firsts while flying into hurricane Erin during CAMEX IV flights

High-flying researchers from NASA's Convection and Moisture Experiment (CAMEX) have marked two firsts in their hurricane tracking and research. On Monday, Sept.10, for the first time from NASA aircraft, they gathered hurricane data in real-time and within minutes transmitted the data directly to hurricane modeling centers.

Their other first was capturing almost perfect data creating the first upper-altitude look that shows the thermal structure of a hurricane. The data came from dropsondes, — devices used to measure the vertical profile of winds, temperature and moisture — that were placed directly into the eye of hurricane Erin. NASA’s ER-2 aircraft released the dropsondes at approximately 65,000 feet while flying over Erin in the Atlantic Ocean.

At the same time, a specially equipped DC-8 with several researchers on board was flying along Erin’s southwestern and southern edge in a saw tooth pattern gathering additional data and sending it rapidly to modeling centers across the U.S.

Both high-flying aircraft also gathered remote sensing measurements. Similar to weather information gathered from satellites, this data will be used in future hurricane models.

“We are really excited to learn whether these unique data will improve our forecast models of hurricanes,” said CAMEX researcher Dr. Ed Zipser of the University of Utah, Salt Lake.

The DC-8, a converted passenger plane, took off from Naval Air Station Jacksonville, Fla., at 10:13 a.m. EDT Monday and the ER-2 took off at 10:31 a.m. on an eight-hour mission to collect high-altitude information on Erin.

The aircraft flew east from Jacksonville and then to the north and northeast to catch up with Erin as she churned in open seas. The DC-8 flew along the outer edges of Erin while the ER-2 flew directly across and over the eye of the storm several times.

“It’s phenomenal to get this kind of information from the dropsondes,” said CAMEX researcher Jeff Halverson, Assistant Professor at the University of Maryland Baltimore county and principal investigator for dropsondes. “The pilot dropped eight dropsondes and we got eight perfect sets of data. This is truly a first and I’m very excited about getting this type of data.”

The CAMEX mission unites researchers from 10 universities, five NASA centers and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The study is part of NASA's Earth Science enterprise to better understand the total Earth system and the effects of natural and human-induced changes on the global environment.