The month-long Hurricane and Severe
Storm Sentinel (HS3), which began in early September, is currently deploying
one instrument-laden Global Hawk from the NASA Wallops Flight Facility on
Virginia's Eastern Shore to look at the environment of tropical storms. In 2013
and 2014, a second Global Hawk will be added that will focus on getting
detailed measurements of the inner core of hurricanes.
The Global Hawk's ability to fly for a
much longer period of time than manned aircraft will allow it to obtain
previously difficult-to-get data. Scientists hope to use that data to gain new
insights into how tropical storms form, and more importantly, how they
intensify into major Atlantic hurricanes — information that forecasters need to
make better storm predictions, save lives, and ultimately prevent costly
coastal evacuations if a storm doesn't warrant them.
Image Credit: NASA
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