NOAA’s P-3 Hurricane Hunter aircraft completed a flight into Tropical Storm Nana in the Caribbean on the morning of September 2. AOML scientists onboard the aircraft, and from the ground, quality controlled and sent dropsonde and radar data to the Environmental Modeling Center (EMC) and National Hurricane Center (NHC) in real time.
A recent paper published in Atmosphere introduces a new update to the Basin-Scale Hurricane Weather Research and Forecasting (HWRF-B) model, which pairs an atmospheric model with an ocean model via new coupling technology to forecast several tropical cyclones simultaneously. This model, shown to improve forecast skill, was developed at AOML in collaboration with NOAA’s Environmental Modeling Center and the Developmental Testbed Center.
Despite their differences, it is still widely thought that Atlantic Niño is analogous to El Niño in many ways. Specifically, the atmosphere-ocean feedback responsible for the onset of Atlantic Niño is believed to be similar to that of El Niño, a process known as Bjerknes feedback. The near-surface trade winds blow steadily from east to west along the equator. When weaker-than-normal trade winds develop in the western Atlantic basin, downwelling equatorial Kelvin waves propagate to the eastern basin, deepening the thermocline and making it harder for the colder, deeper water to affect the surface.
AOML hurricane scientists coordinated with ground crews stationed in the path of Laura’s trajectory to obtain valuable measurements that captured the structural evolution of major Hurricane Laura upon landfall, while successfully completing all operational mission objectives.
AOML hurricane scientists supporting NOAA reconnaissance into Hurricane Laura recognized the onset of rapid intensification when thunderstorms, often referred to as convection, began working its way around the entirety of the storm center.
The National Hurricane Center (NHC) upgraded Tropical Depression 13 to Tropical Storm Laura after yesterday morning’s reconnaissance mission confirmed gale-force surface winds within Laura’s vortex. AOML scientists provided remote support for onboard Tail Doppler Radar and dropsonde data processing and continue to do so for upcoming missions into the system.
With peak Atlantic hurricane season fast approaching, AOML scientists begin supporting NOAA Hurricane Hunter missions into Tropical Storm Laura. The National Hurricane Center (NHC) and Environmental Modeling Center (EMC) have tasked NOAA’s two P-3 aircraft to investigate the atmospheric conditions associated with the tropical storm.
In a recent study published in the journal Science Advances, oceanographers at AOML and the Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies for the first time describe the daily variability of the circulation of key deep currents in the South Atlantic Ocean that are linked to climate and weather. The study found that the circulation patterns in the upper and deeper layers of the South Atlantic often vary independently of each other, an important new result about the broader Meridional Overturning Circulation (MOC) in the Atlantic.
NOAA’s P-3 Hurricane Hunters concluded their Environmental Modeling Center (EMC) tasked reconnaissance into Tropical Storm Isaias with real-time support from AOML’s Hurricane Research Division. The aircraft took off Monday, August 3 at 5 AM EDT, from Lakeland, Florida.
AOML scientists partnered with the U.S. Air Force 53rd Reconnaissance Squadron “Hurricane Hunters” to deploy eight drifting buoys in advance of Tropical Storm Isaias on August 3, 2020 off the Carolina coast, in collaboration with the National Weather Service (NWS), National Hurricane Center (NHC), and Scripps Institution of Oceanography.
