Two Global Hawk UAVs To Fly Over Atlantic Storms

NASA is again prepping two Global Hawk UAVs for hurricane research as the peak of the Atlantic hurricane season approaches.

This will be the second year for the agency's Hurricane and Severe Storm Sentinel, or HS3, field campaign. Research meteorologist Scott Braun at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center near Washington, D.C. says the purpose of the flights is to better understand "the relative roles of the environment and those inner-core processes in the formation and intensification of hurricanes in the Atlantic."

The Voice of America reports that the aircraft will watch the environmental conditions near the storms and monitor the effects on their intensity. One will deploy dropsondes to measure atmospheric conditions over the 20 minute descent from altitude to the ocean's surface.

The HS3 mission will also measure Saharan dust in the atmosphere that can have an effect on how storms form and intensify.

NOAA and the NWS are still predicting an above-average Atlantic hurricane season, though they recently revised their official forecast, predicting fewer tropical storms and major hurricanes.

(NASA Global Hawk image from file)

FMI: www.nasa.gov