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Manned & Unmanned Aircraft Observing Strategies for
Model Physics Evaluation (2014-2015)

Mission Description

The ideal experiment consists of coordinated three-plane missions designed to observe several mechanisms responsible for modulating convective activity, hurricane structure and storm intensity change including:

  • Air-sea energy exchange and boundary layer processes
  • Convection (storm and surroundings)
  • Dynamic/thermodynamic processes (storm and surroundings)
  • Cloud microphysics

Figure 1. Storm track (blue), and observation region (red box), optimally suited for multi-aircraft experiment. Range rings are 200 nmi relative to forward operating base at STX (TISX). Track marks are spaced every 24 hrs.



Plan: Establish a multi-aircraft experimental design in geographical areas with limited operational requirements over a 24h refresh cycle


One NOAA P3 -> Captures the core, storm scale circulation (e.g. Current TDR mission profiles)

2nd NOAA P3 -> Responsible for sampling predetermined areas of interest outside the immediate TC high wind inner core (e.g. Entrainment flux module)<> /h3

NOAA GIV -> Primarily responsible for capturing the tropical cyclone's surrounding larger scale environment



Model Physics Evaluation Experiment

The processes that will be targeted include air sea exchange, vertical/horizontal transport resulting from convective activity (including boundary layer entrainment and cloud microphysical processes), interactions with the surrounding environment, and ocean response. There are 3 high-priority foci that will targeted:

  • Air-Sea Exchange:
  • TC Inner Core Processes (R<~150 km):
  • TC Environment Processes (R>~150 km):

Several research experiments/modules support the air-sea exchange, TC Inner Core Processes, and TC Environment Processes foci of this overarching experiment. These experiments/modules include:

  • TC-Ocean Response Experiment (Uhlhorn, Lumpkin, Centurioni, Shay)
  • Hurricane Boundary Layer Entrainment Flux Module (J. Zhang, G. Barnes)
  • Hurricane Boundary Layer Inflow Experiment (J. Zhang, E. Uhlhorn, J. Cione)
  • Coyote UAS (Cione)
  • RAPX (Kaplan, Rogers, Dunion)
  • Microphysics - Aerosol/Cloud droplet measurement option (B. Black)
  • SALEX-Arc Cloud Module (Dunion)
  • Doppler Wind Lidar (DWL) Boundary-layer Module (J. Zhang)
  • Doppler Wind Lidar (DWL) SAL Module (Dunion)
  • TC Diurnal Cycle Experiment (Dunion)
  • TC in Shear Experiment (Reasor)
  • Convective Burst Module (Rogers)

Regional and Global Model Evaluation and Improvement Project
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