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Hurricane Observations by Uncrewed Systems
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2023
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Source: Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc
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Series: PMEL Contribution no. 5373
[PDF-3.92 MB]
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Journal Title:Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society
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Description:On 30 September 2021, a saildrone uncrewed surface vehicle (USV) was steered into Category 4 Hurricane Sam, the most intense storm of the 2021 Atlantic hurricane season. It measured significant wave heights up to 14 m (maximum wave height 27 m) and near-surface winds exceeding 55 m s−1. This was the first time in more than seven decades of hurricane observations that in real time a USV transmitted scientific data, images, and videos of the dynamic ocean surface near a hurricane’s eyewall. The saildrone was part of a five-saildrone deployment of the NOAA 2021 Atlantic Hurricane Observations Mission. These saildrones observed the atmospheric and oceanic near-surface conditions of five other tropical storms, of which two became hurricanes. Such observations inside tropical cyclones help to advance the understanding and prediction of hurricanes, with the ultimate goal of saving lives and protecting property. The 2021 deployment pioneered a new practice of coordinating measurements by saildrones, underwater gliders, and airborne dropsondes to make simultaneous and near-collocated observations of the air-sea interface, the ocean immediately below, and the atmosphere immediately above. This experimental deployment opened the door to a new era of using remotely piloted uncrewed systems to observe one of the most extreme phenomena on Earth in a way previously impossible. This article provides an overview of this saildrone hurricane observations mission, describes how the saildrones were coordinated with other observing platforms, presents preliminary scientific results from these observations to demonstrate their potential utility and motivate further data analysis, and offers a vision of future hurricane observations using combined uncrewed platforms.
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Content Notes:The success of the NOAA 2021 Saildrone Hurricane Observations Mission would be impossible without dedicated work by many from Saildrone, Inc. (Julia Paxton, Kimberly Sparling, Charles Hamel, Dave Peacock, Robby Dean) and NOAA (Ben Carlson, Darrin Moore, Renee Womack, Adi Hanein, Kristina Kiest, Monica Allen). Special thanks also go to Ben Prueitt of the Gray’s Reef National Marine Sanctuary and the science team and crew of R/V Nancy Foster for coordinating their cruise with our mission and to Sarah Battle for the help with the graphics. Three reviewers provided constructive comments that helped improve an earlier version of this article. The mission was supported by the NOAA’s Office of Marine and Aviation Operations (OMAO), NOAA Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR) Ocean Portfolio, Weather Program Office (WPO), Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, and Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory. The NOAA Cooperative Science Center in Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology (NCAS-M) program provided summer internship support for MMC through the NOAA Experiential Research and Training Opportunities (NERTO). DC-8 overflights were supported by NASA Convective Process Experiment – Aerosol and Wind (CPEX-AW) grant 80NSSC20K0895. Funding for AC was provided by NOAA’s Global Ocean Monitoring and Observing Program (http://data.crossref.org/fundingdata/funder/10.13039/100018302). This publication is PMEL Contribution 5373 and is partially funded by the Cooperative Institute for Climate, Ocean, & Ecosystem Studies (CIOCES) under NOAA Cooperative Agreement NA20OAR4320271, Contribution No. 2022-1210.
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Source:Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc
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Rights Information:CC BY
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