2008 Storm Flts - Tropical Storm Gustav Click to go to site
2008 Storm Flts - Tropical Storm Fay Click to go to site
Critical TV (3.0) Mention. Weather Channel Video Clip, August 14, 2008
... time to take a look at the tropics, and we have some activity to maybe not alert you too, but something you may want to keep watching. There are three different systems, all kind of following each other across the atlantic from east to west. We are in the time of the year when you have to watch these systems extremely close. Let's check the one that's closest to the Winward Islands and Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands right now. Actually a NOAA reconnaissance flight, research flight, is out in there right now.... <Go to Video Clip>
Hurricane Dolly Offers Silver Lining to Some Drought Stricken Texas Counties, July 25, 2008
The remnants of Hurricane Dolly have provided a mixed bag of damaging floods and welcome drought relief for residents of south Texas. <Read Full Story>
In the Eye of the Storm - Occupational Health & Safety, January 2008
St. Elmo's Fire, with its eerie emanations of iridescent hues, possesses a mystical quality for many. For centures, sailors either sought shelter or stood in awe of it. But for Greg Bast, the phenomenon is just another part of his job. <Read Full Story>
Hunting a Hurricane . St. Petersburg Times, August 20, 2007 - Hurricane Hunter aircraft like this one take off from MacDill Air Force base in Tampa and fly straight into the most dangerous storms threatening the United States. <Read Full Story>
Kermit Braves the Cold ... Ocean Winds Winter Experiment
The Aircraft Operations Center (AOC) has been tasked to provide support for the 2007 Ocean Winds Winter Experiment. Ocean Winds is a continuing project who objective is to improve our understanding of satellite-based ocean wind retrievals in limiting environmental conditions. These include high winds and heavy precipitation. The experiment also seeks to determine how these wind retrievals change across sea surface temperature boundaries. NASA currently has a polar orbiting satellites aloft, QuikSCAT, doing surface wind retrievals, and AOC's WP-3D will be used in a cold weather environment to collect under-flight data with microwave scatterometers that will be used to validate the satellite measurements. The mission of AOC during this program will be to conduct airborne operations as required for the purpose of collecting data required to satisfy the objectives of Ocean Winds Winter. This AOC operations plan will deal with the manner in which it responds to these requirements and the methods used in performing the operation. In support of this program, the AOC will provide one WP-3D, N42RF (affectionately referred to as 'Kermit'), along with the necessary personnel to operate and maintain both the aircraft and the instrumentation used in the program. The aircraft will fly out of St. John's, Newfoundland Canada for approximately a 1-month period. <See Daily Updates>
NASA Peers Deep Inside Hurricanes - ScienceDaily, March 14, 2007
Determined to understand why some storms grow into hurricanes while others fizzle, NASA scientists recently looked deep into thunderstorms off the African coast using satellites and airplanes. <Read Full Story>
NASA Peers Deep Inside Hurricanes. Science Daily - Determined to understand why some storms grow into hurricanes while others fizzle, NASA scientists recently looked into thunderstorms off the African coast using satellites and airplanes. <Read Full Story>
NOAA Gulfstream IV-SP Hurricane Surveillance Jet Takes on Pacific Winter Storms to Improve Model Forecasts. Hawaii middle school teacher will be member of flight crew - in an effort to improve forecasts released 24-96 hours before a winter storm, NOAA deployed its high-altitude Gulfstream IV jet from a temporary base in Honolulu. The jet is acquiring atmospheric data from severe winter storms originating over the Pacific Ocean that will affect the continental United States, Hawaii and Alaska. <Read Full Story>
The Gulfstream IV-SP Flies for Winter Storms
The NOAA G-IV high-altitude jet will depart for Honolulu on January 16th to serve the scientific interests of the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) over the course of the next two months. While conducting the Winter Storms Reconnaissance (WSR-07) project, the aircraft will fly extended patterns over the north Pacific, launching numerous dropwindsonde atmospheric profiling devices to more accurately characterize the environment of developing winter cyclones and snow storms. Data from these expendable instruments will be screened aboard the aircraft by AOC meteorologists, transmitted to NCEP by satellite communication and used to initialize NOAA's most sophisticated forecasting models, to improve warnings of severe weather events. The NOAA G-IV crew will also measure concentrations of ozone on each flight for the Chemical Sciences Division of the Earth System Research Laboratory. <See Daily Updates>
Click here for Feb 16, 07 Press Release
Click here for Feb 20, 07 Press Release
King Aerospace to Build, Test Radar for NOAA Hurricane Hunter Aircraft
NOAA announced that it is exercising a contract option with King Aerospace Inc. of Addison, Texas, for the construction, integration and system testing for a tail Doppler radar, or TDR, to be installed on the agency's Gulfstream-IV hurricane surveillance aircraft. The option is valued at $3.1 million. "By installing the tail Doppler radar on the G-IV jet, NOAA will be taking a first step toward improving intensity forecasts," said Rear Admiral Samuel P. De Bow Jr., director of the NOAA Office of Marine and Aviation Operations and the NOAA Commissioned Officer Corps. "This ultimately will help forecasters save lives and property during hurricanes." With the TDR system, the G-IV will be able to acquire three-dimensional hurricane core wind field data. The raw radar data will be processed onboard the aircraft through quality-control software being developed by the NOAA Hurricane Research Division. <Read Full Story>
Hurricane Hunters, NOAA's Air Operations Center
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Air Operations Center at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa serves as home to the Hurricane Hunters. <Read Full Story >
Northern Flights - Aviation Week & Space Technology
Congress should increase the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) budget for unmanned aircraft and create a test bed in Alaska for integrating them into the national air space, argues the American Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). <Read Full Story >
NOAA - All About Snow Survey Flights
The purpose of a snow survey mission is to collect data that accurately measures the moisture content of soil or snow to aid in the timely forecasting and warning of spring snow melt flooding and the prediction of impacts to agriculture, water supply, and/or recreational activities. <Read Full Story on PAGE 8 >
NOAA Continues to Predict Above-Normal Hurricane Season
With the peak of the Atlantic hurricane season upon us, experts from NOAA are reiterating their prediction for an above-normal number of storms. NOAA scientists warn this year's relatively quiet start is not an indication of what the remainder of the season has in store. For the entire 2006 season NOAA is projecting a total of 12 to 15 named storms of which seven to nine will intensify to hurricanes, including three or four becoming major hurricanes-rated at Category 3 or higher. <Full Story Inside>
NOAA Concludes Successful Hurricane Awareness Tour
With the official start of the Atlantic hurricane season less than on month away, NOAA's 2006 Hurricane Awareness Tour came to a successful conclusion Friday in Tampa, Fla., delivering its message of the need for hurricane preparedness to thousands of visitors and media audiences. <Full Story Inside>
Relief Felt as Red River Flood Levels Begin to Decline
As the flood crest on the Red River of the North nears Pembina, N.D., and the Canadian border, emergency management officials, local governments and state and federal officials are breathing a collective sigh of relief as flood waters slowly decline in upstream areas. <Full Story Inside>
NOAA Flies to Alaska for Ocean Winds
On March 3rd, one of AOC's Lockheed WP-3D Orions, N42RF, returned from Anchorage, Alaska where it participated in the annual winter ocean winds experiment. <Full Story Inside>
The G-IV Tail Doppler Radar will Help to Support the National Weather Service Modeling Objectives
The G-IV tail Doppler radar will support the operational hurricane modeling objectives of the NOAA National Weather Service (NWS) Environmental Modeling Center and provide state of the art hurricane forecast guidance to the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) Tropical Prediction Center. <Full Story Inside >
NOAA Unveils Hurricane Katrina Web Site Capturing the Storm's Power and Aftermath
On August 29, 2005, A year to the day after Hurricane Katrina became the most destructive hurricane ever to strike the United States, NOAA launched a new Web site detailing the development of the storm, its power and destruction. The site also highlights NOAA's multi-faceted response to the storm's aftermath, including floods, testing fisheries, clearing waterways, identifying and cleaning up oil spills. <Read Full Story >
Researchers Study Formation of Hurricanes
August 28, 2006 - Reasons how and why some easterly African waves develop into hurricanes and some do not is still largely unknown. This earliest stage of intensity change is just one aspect that hurricane researchers with the NOAA Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory in Miami, Fla., are studying this summer as a part of the Intensity Forecast Experiment, or IFEX. <Read Full Story >
Scientists Discover Zooplankton Species Key to Ocean Food Chain Census of Marine Life
Census of Marine Life scientists trawled rarely explored tropical ocean depths between the southeast US coast and the Mid-Atlantic Ridge to inventory and photograph the variety and abundance of zooplankton - small sea "bugs" that form a vital link in the ocean food chain - and other life forms.... <Read Full Story at Mongabay.com>
Into the Eye of the Storm
NOAA goes hurricane hunting
Army Air Forces Colonel Duckworth was not amused. As World
War II raged overseas, the flight instructor at Bryant
Field in Texas has the unenviable task of teaching cocky
British pilots how to fly on instruments.... <Read Full Story at Military Officer >
NOAA Hurricane Hunter Pilot Captures Katrina at her Meanest
Sept. 1, 2005 — NOAA hurricane hunter WP-3D Orion and Gulfstream IV aircraft conducted ten long flights into and around the eye of Hurricane Katrina. LT Mike Silah, a P-3 pilot, got to see Hurricane Katrina up close and personal, especially when she was an extremely dangerous Category Five storm in the Gulf of Mexico. <Full Story Inside >
NOAA Conducts Aerial Photography Missions over Regions Affected by Hurricane Wilma
Oct. 27, 2005 — NOAA posted online more than 1,500 aerial images of some of the regions that were affected by Hurricane Wilma. NOAA began aerial survey missions on Tuesday, which is the day after Hurricane Wilma made landfall as a major Category Three at approximately 6:30 a.m. EDT on Monday at Cape Romano 15 to 18 miles south-southeast of Naples, Fla., or about 20 miles west of Everglades City, Fla. <Full Story Inside >
NOAA Performs Aerial Survey of Regions Affected by Hurricane Rita
NOAA posted online more than 1,100 aerial images of the U.S. Gulf Coast areas in the path of Hurricane Rita. The images were taken by the NOAA Remote Sensing Division the day after the center of Rita made landfall at approximately 3:30 a.m. EDT on the extreme southwest coast of Louisiana between Sabine Pass, Texas, and Johnson's Bayou in Louisiana.<Full Story Inside >
NOAA Hurricane Katrina Support Activities; Aerial Photography Flights Yield Thousands of Images
The day after Hurricane Katrina made landfall on the U.S. Gulf Coast NOAA began aerial photography flights of the affected areas. For nine days the NOAA Cessna Citation aircraft flew two to three missions each day only stopping to re-fuel.<Full Story Inside >
NOAA G-IV Flies Day and Night Missions in Hurricane Katrina
The NOAA G-IV high-altitude surveillance jet flew six full-endurance missions to support the track and intensity forecasting efforts of the National Centers for Environmental prediction (NCEP) and the National Hurricane Center (NHC).<Full Story Inside >
NOAA G-IV Jet Begins SALEX Research
Early in August, the AOC began flying a new research project for the NOAA Hurricane Research Division (HRD) of OAR, using the Gulfstream G-IV high-altitude jet to conduct missions in support of the Saharan Air Layer Experiment (SALEX). <Full Story Inside >
The Gulfstream Will Enhance Winter Storm Forecasting Throughout the US
NOAA's Gulfstream IV-SP (G-IV) aircraft has been tasked by the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) to provide support for the Winter Storm Reconnaissance 2004 (WSR-04) mission during the period January 17 through March 15, 2004. <more>
NOAA Announces New International Monsoon Research Program
NOAA and Mexico's weather service, the Servicio Meteorologico Nacional, have joined forces to develop improved monsoon season forecasts. <Full Story Inside >
The Gulfstream IVSP Sees Inside Fabian
The NOAA Gulfstream IV-SP (G-IV) flew into the eye of Hurricane Fabian, a Category 4 storm, on September 1st, 2003. The aircraft launched from St. Croix at 1251 EDT and landed back in St. Croix at 1607 EDT. <more>
Bow Echo and Meso-Scale Convective Vortices Experiment
Fresh out of a major maintenance overhaul and fully instrumented by AOC engineers and technicians for severe storm research, a NOAA P-3 called Kermit deployed from its home at MacDill AFB to Mid America airport in western Illinois, just each of St. Louis, MO, on May 19th to participate in the Bow Echo and Meso-Scale Convective Vortices Experiment, known by the acronym Bamex. <more>
The Gulfstream IVSP Sees Inside Fabian
The NOAA Gulfstream IV-SP (G-IV) flew into the eye of Hurricane Fabian, a Category 4 storm, on September 1st, 2003. The aircraft launched from St. Croix at 1251 EDT and landed back in St. Croix at 1607 EDT. <more>
Bow Echo and Meso-Scale Convective Vortices Experiment
Fresh out of a major maintenance overhaul and fully instrumented by AOC engineers and technicians for severe storm research, a NOAA P-3 called Kermit deployed from its home at MacDill AFB to Mid America airport in western Illinois, just each of St. Louis, MO, on May 19th to participate in the Bow Echo and Meso-Scale Convective Vortices Experiment, known by the acronym Bamex. <more>
NOAA Scientists Participate in Snow Study to Improve Water, Weather and Climate Forecasts
For a second year, NOAA will again join university students and scientists from five federal agencies in the Cold Land Processes Field Experiment in the Colorado Rockies to study snowpacks from the ground, air and space in an effort to better understand water, weather and climate in cold land<more>
Ms. Piggy Returns Home From Bolivia
AOC's Lockheed WP-3D Orion N43RF, affectionaly known as Ms. Piggy, returned to its home base in Tampa in early February after completing a field program that took the aircraft and its crew afar. <more>
Tampa Bay Day
What do you get when you place the three largest NOAA offices in Tampa Bay together for a day of orientation, information sharing, and an afternoon at the beach? The foundation of a stronger, more corporate NOAA identity; something far greater than the sum of its parts in the region.<more>
Atlantic Right Whale Photogrammetry
In the study of biological systems we learn most about plants and animals buy collecting specimens of various ages, measure them weight them, check their sex, get their age at maturity, feed them and measure growth rates etc. <more>
NOAA
G-IV Winter Storms Reconnaissance Update
As
of February 9, 2003, the NOAA Gulfstream IV-SP (G-IV)
has conducted five missions supporting the National
Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) Winter Storms
Reconnaissance (WSR-03) operational effort in 2003. <more>
Winter
Storm Reconnaissance Program
In
the short, 0 48 hour lead time range forecasts over
the Pacific coastal area are adversely affected by the
sparsity of in situ observations over the upstream northeast
Pacific basin. The relative disadvantage of the west
coast areas arising from their geographical location
can be ameliorated by enhancements in the observational
network over the northeast Pacific. <more>
Snow
Survey in the Last Frontier
Beginning in 2002, the
NWS embarked on a ground-breaking survey in this country’s
49th state. Alaska became the newest addition to a long
list of states where snow is surveyed by an office of
the NWS called NOHRSC (National Operational Hydrologic
Remote Sensing Center). <more>
2002
Mid Atlantic Bottlenose Dolphin Aerial Surveys
Along the eastern seaboard of the United States there
exists a coastal migratory stock or population of bottlenose
dolphins (Tursiops truncatus). This nomadic stock of
dolphins moves north and south along the coastline depending
on the season and water temperature. <more>
Hurricane Hunters Go Where Others Fear to Fly
Riding the storm out takes on a whole new meaning for a few admitted adrenaline junkies who take to the skies when a hurricane turns deadly and stare straight into the face of the danger... <more>
BRACE Study Launched to Determine Influence of Air Pollution on Water Quality in Tampa Bay
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) today announced that May 1 will begin a month-long series of intensive studies to determine the level of influence of nitrogen deposited into Tampa Bay from local and regional sources of air pollutants on water quality. <more>
Get
On Board The Hurricane Hunter
Imagine eight computer work stations linked to some of
the world's most advanced climate-probing equipment, slicing
through the air at low altitudes hammered by hurricane-force
winds, buffeted by blinding rain and breakneck ... <Read Full Story at ECSC Living in South Carolina >
NOAA
Experiment Aims to Improve Winter Storm Forecasts Along
West coast
High winds, heavy rain and extreme surf conditions have
already battered West Coast residents this winter, and
NOAA researchers hope a new experiment will give them
an edge over the storms. This week's experiment ... <Read Full Story at NOAA News >
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