Other groups providing support:

• 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron
  U.S. Air Force Reserve - 403rd Wing
  (WC-130 reconnaissance aircraft)
  • Michele Rivera (228-377-2056) (PAO)
• Chief, Airborne Reconnaissance Coordination, All Hurricanes, (CARCAH),
  U.S. Air Force Reserve
• Simon Chang
  Office of Naval Research, (CBLAST Program Manager)

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WHO, WHEN, WHERE, HOW

NOAA Hurricane Field Program: 15 August - 15 October 2002

Atlantic Hurricane Frequency (1896-1996)

WHO, WHEN, WHERE, HOW

WHO, WHEN, WHERE, HOW

Each year HRD receives 100-200 flight hours to use NOAA WP-3D aircraft for hurricane research and to support TPC/NHC operations. HRD also supports TPC/NHC operations by designing flight tracks and processing dropsonde data from the NOAA G-IVSP aircraft.

RESEARCH

• Staff designs and executes (fly on the aircraft) experiments to study hurricane behavior (track and intensity).
• Same scientists analyze data and publish papers describing results.

SUPPORT OPERATIONS

• Transmit real-time information to TPC/NHC and NOAA National Centers for Environmental Prediction via an aircraft-satellite data link and satellite cell-phone.
• HRD airborne workstation generates dropsonde, flight-level, and radar products for transmission.
• HRD scientist at TPC/NHC processes aircraft data to generate products for hurricane specialists.

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