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Sim D. Aberson
,
Michael L. Black
,
Robert A. Black
,
Robert W. Burpee
,
Joseph J. Cione
,
Christopher W. Landsea
, and
Frank D. Marks Jr.

In 1976 and 1977, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration purchased two customized WP-3D (P-3) aircraft to conduct tropical cyclone (TC) research. During their first 30 years, the P-3s have proved to be invaluable research platforms, obtaining data at the micro- to synoptic scale, with missions conducted in 134 TCs in the Atlantic and eastern Pacific Oceans and near Australia. Analyses of the observations led to many new insights about TC structure, dynamics, thermodynamics, and environmental interactions. The real-time use of the information by the National Hurricane and Environmental Modeling Centers of the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP), as well as later research, has helped to increase the accuracy of wind, flood, and storm surge forecasts and severe weather warnings and has resulted in significant improvements to operational numerical model guidance for TC-track forecasts. In commemoration of the first 30 years of research with these aircraft, this manuscript presents a brief overview of the instrumentation aboard the aircraft and the major research findings during this period.

Full access
Joseph J. Cione
,
George H. Bryan
,
Ronald Dobosy
,
Jun A. Zhang
,
Gijs de Boer
,
Altug Aksoy
,
Joshua B. Wadler
,
Evan A. Kalina
,
Brittany A. Dahl
,
Kelly Ryan
,
Jonathan Neuhaus
,
Ed Dumas
,
Frank D. Marks
,
Aaron M. Farber
,
Terry Hock
, and
Xiaomin Chen
Full access
Joseph J. Cione
,
George H. Bryan
,
Ronald Dobosy
,
Jun A. Zhang
,
Gijs de Boer
,
Altug Aksoy
,
Joshua B. Wadler
,
Evan A. Kalina
,
Brittany A. Dahl
,
Kelly Ryan
,
Jonathan Neuhaus
,
Ed Dumas
,
Frank D. Marks
,
Aaron M. Farber
,
Terry Hock
, and
Xiaomin Chen

Abstract

Unique data from seven flights of the Coyote small unmanned aircraft system (sUAS) were collected in Hurricanes Maria (2017) and Michael (2018). Using NOAA’s P-3 reconnaissance aircraft as a deployment vehicle, the sUAS collected high-frequency (>1 Hz) measurements in the turbulent boundary layer of hurricane eyewalls, including measurements of wind speed, wind direction, pressure, temperature, moisture, and sea surface temperature, which are valuable for advancing knowledge of hurricane structure and the process of hurricane intensification. This study presents an overview of the sUAS system and preliminary analyses that were enabled by these unique data. Among the most notable results are measurements of turbulence kinetic energy and momentum flux for the first time at low levels (<150 m) in a hurricane eyewall. At higher altitudes and lower wind speeds, where data were collected from previous flights of the NOAA P-3, the Coyote sUAS momentum flux values are encouragingly similar, thus demonstrating the ability of an sUAS to measure important turbulence properties in hurricane boundary layers. Analyses from a large-eddy simulation (LES) are used to place the Coyote measurements into context of the complicated high-wind eyewall region. Thermodynamic data are also used to evaluate the operational HWRF model, showing a cool, dry, and thermodynamically unstable bias near the surface. Preliminary data assimilation experiments also show how sUAS data can be used to improve analyses of storm structure. These results highlight the potential of sUAS operations in hurricanes and suggest opportunities for future work using these promising new observing platforms.

Free access