On September 5, 2003, Hurricane Fabian made a direct hit on the island of Bermuda with winds of 120 mph, making it the strongest hurricane to strike there since Hurricane Arlene in 1963. It cause US$300 million in damages and caused 4 direct deaths in the islands. This made it the first hurricane to cause fatalities in Bermuda in 77 years.
Prior to this devastating landfall, the Hurricane Research Division participated in four G-IV synoptic surveillance missions to improve the model track forecasts and six P-3 missions as part of the Coupled Boundary Layers Air-Sea Transfer (CBLAST) Experiment. These experiments examined the boundary layer fluxes of moisture and energy from the ocean to the atmosphere that fed the strengthening storm.
Some papers that resulted from these flights:
- Uhlhorn, E. W., P. G. Black, J. L. Franklin, M. Goodberlet, J. Carswell, A. S. Goldstein, 2007: Hurricane surface wind measurements from an operational stepped frequency microwave radiometer. Mon. Wea. Rev., 135, 3070–3085. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/MWR3454.1
- Drennan, W M., J. A. Zhang, J. R. French, C. McCormick, P. G. Black, 2007: Turbulent fluxes in the hurricane boundary layer. Part II: Latent heat flux. J. Atmos. Sci., 64, 1103–1115. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/JAS3889.1
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Black, P. G., and Coauthors, 2007: Air–sea exchange in hurricanes: synthesis of observations from the coupled boundary layer air–sea transfer experiment. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 88, 357–374.
- Zhang, J. A., W. M. Drennan, P. G. Black, J. R. French, 2009: Turbulence structure of the hurricane boundary layer between the outer rainbands. J. Atmos. Sci., 66, 2455–2467. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/2009JAS2954.1
- Lorsolo, S., J. A. Zhang, F. Marks, J. Gamache, 2010: Estimation and mapping of hurricane turbulent energy using airborne Doppler measurements. Mon. Wea. Rev., 138, 3656–3670. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/2010MWR3183.1
- Zhang, J. A., W. M. Drennan, 2012: An observational study of vertical eddy diffusivity in the hurricane boundary layer. J. Atmos. Sci., 69, 3223–3236. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/JAS-D-11-0348.1
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Bell, M. M., M. T. Montgomery, K. A. Emanuel, 2012: Air–sea enthalpy and momentum exchange at major hurricane wind speeds observed during CBLAST. J. Atmos. Sci., 69, 3197–3222.
- Zhang, J. A., 2010: Spectral characteristics of turbulence in the hurricane boundary layer over the ocean between the outer rain bands. Q.J.R. Meteorol. Soc., 136: 918–926. doi: 10.1002/qj.610