Unmanned aircraft to fly into heart of storms improve understanding of hurricanes
March 26th, 2008, 9:40 pm Hobby Shops
Until the two agencies come to an agreement, NOAA plans to launch the winged probes from Jamaica or Barbados during the 2008 hurricane season into storms that pose an initial threat to the Caribbean. Missions flown from those tropical islands still would allow scientists to hone the Aerosonde program, which will be conducted on an experimental basis, said Joseph Cione, NOAA’s principal investigator for unmanned aerial system research. “The endgame is to improve forecasts and save lives and property,” he said. Although Aerosondes have been flying into storms, exploring arctic regions and undertaking other scientific missions for about seven years, NOAA wants to step up their use this year. Scientists hope the drones will provide new clues about the still-mysterious cores of hurricanes — and specifically, the process that allows them to strengthen. Manufactured by Aerosonde, based in Melbourne, Australia, the propeller-driven weather probes, which cost more than $50,000 each, are engineering marvels. Equipped with a 1.6-horsepower engine and flight-management computer, the drone can fly an astonishing 2,300 miles on 1.5 gallons of fuel at a cruising speed of about 60 mph. With such stamina, the drones can be directed into a hurricane and drift in its swirling winds for more than 20 hours. After enduring the turbulence, they are rugged enough to return to their home base intact. Though Aerosondes might be considered the cousins of military drones, they aren’t nearly as big or powerful. The U.S. Air Force Predator, for instance, weighs up to 2,250 pounds, is equipped with a 115-horsepower engine and can be armed with laser-guided missiles. By flying as low as 300 feet above the ocean, an altitude far too dangerous for manned aircraft, the Aerosondes can transmit temperature, wind, barometric pressure and humidity readings from that important slice of the atmosphere to the National Hurricane Center, said Cione, who is based in Miami. No other technology is available to obtain such key information instantaneously, he said. After feeding the data into forecast models, the hurricane center should be able to better determine a storm’s structure and warn which areas of Florida and other at-risk states stand to be hit hardest. Aerosondes already have demonstrated a tenacious ability to examine storms. One flew for 17.5 hours in Hurricane Noel last November and another for 10 hours in Hurricane Ophelia in September 2005. The planes provided a better understanding of how thermal energy is transferred from the warm ocean to the storm above it. “If we don’t understand that, we will never have really accurate forecasts, so it’s a critical region,” he said. The Aerosondes are part of a broader NOAA program to use unmanned aircraft to monitor global events, such as arctic ice melting, volcanic lava flows and changes in fish and whale populations. The South Florida Sun-Sentinel is a Tribune Publishing newspaper.
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