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NOAA 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. The objective of this program is to obtain ground truth data in regions of high winds and heavy precipitation in order to validate surface wind retrievals from the QuickScat and WindSat satellites operated by NOAA’s National Environmental Satellite Data and Information Service (NESDIS). This ongoing program utilizes the services of AOC twice a year with one of the P-3s operating out of Anchorage or St. John’s Newfoundland in the winter and from various venues in the tropics while obtaining data in tropical storms and hurricanes.
N42RF, affectionately nicknamed Kermit, departed MacDill AFB on the 2nd of February, arriving in Anchorage on the 3rd after an overnight stop in Seattle. The aircraft and crew flew its first mission on February 9, and in the succeeding three weeks flew a total of seven missions from its base at Anchorage International Airport before returning to Florida. These missions are flown in areas where the winds exceed gale force and precipitation is high. The data collected during the ocean winds missions is used to fine tune the algorithms utilized in the satellite surface wind retrievals. Satellite winds from QuickScat and WindSat are of major importance to forecasters of high seas weather and particularly for shipping interests. Continued validation by low flying aircraft carrying similar instrumentation is essential to maintain a high level of quality in these data.
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