One of the key aspects of NOAA’s Mission is, “To understand and predict changes in the climate, weather, oceans, and coasts…” with a long-term goal of achieving a, “Weather-ready Nation,” in which society is able to prepare for, and respond to, weather-related events. This objective specifies the need to improve the understanding and prediction of tropical cyclones (TCs). To conduct the research necessary to address this, since 2005, NOAA has conducted an experiment designed to improve operational forecasts of TC intensity, called the Intensity Forecasting EXperiment (IFEX). The IFEX goals, developed through a partnership involving the NOAA/Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory (AOML)’s Hurricane Research Division, the National Hurricane Center, and the Environmental Modeling Center, are to improve operational forecasts of TC intensity, structure, and rainfall by providing data to improve the operational numerical modeling systems and by improving understanding of the relevant physical processes. These goals will be accomplished by satisfying a set of requirements and recommendations guiding the collection of the data:
- GOAL 1: Collect observations that span the TC life cycle in a variety of environments for model initialization and evaluation.
- GOAL 2: Develop and refine measurement technologies that provide improved real-time monitoring of TC intensity, structure, and environment.
- GOAL 3: Improve understanding of the physical processes important in intensity change for a TC at all stages of its life cycle.
You can find the entire plan at https://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/HFP2019/index.html.