Hurricane Hunters fly first winter storm

Flightline personnel ensure a WC-130J is prepared to fly a winter storm mission by de-icing the aircraft.

by Senior Airman Kimberly Erickson
403rd Wing Public Affairs

12/21/2009 - KEESLER AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. (AFNS) -- Members of the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron here have been tasked by National Weather Service officials to fly their first winter storm of the season on the East Coast starting Dec. 25.

The Air Force Reserve's 53rd WRS "Hurricane Hunters," assigned to the 403rd Wing here, normally collect weather data during tropical storms, enabling forecasters to make more accurate predictions.

Between hurricane seasons, the Hurricane Hunters have a lesser known, but equally important role: collecting weather data during winter storms.

"Whenever there's a system track that will cause an impact, there's potential for winter storms," said Lt. Col. Jon Talbot, a 53rd WRS aerial reconnaissance weather officer since 1992.

To prepare for a winter storm flying mission, the Hurricane Hunters carefully plan the mission, review which flying route they will take and make altitude reservations by coordinating with air traffic control, said Lt. Col. Roy Deatherage, a 53rd WRS aerial reconnaissance weather officer.

"The National Weather Service runs computer models that forecast the weather three to five days in advance of a storm," Colonel Talbot said. As an aerial reconnaissance weather officer, he acts as a mission director and liaison between the National Weather Service and his crew.

"Winter storms have a lot of impact," he said, detailing the emergency services and salt trucks that are used once the threat of a winter storm has been confirmed.

The Hurricane Hunters have two winter storm missions, Colonel Talbot said. The first is the Pacific mission. "We average 20 missions over 30 days when we deploy our airplanes to either Alaska or Hawaii." The second is flying winter storms locally in the Gulf of Mexico and in the Atlantic Ocean.

"The goal is to improve the weather forecast for the East Coast because we have a lot of people and money tied up in the Washington to Boston corridor," Colonel Talbot said.

The return of investment for flying winter storms and collecting data is an estimated 15 percent greater accuracy in weather forecasting.

"There are some 5,000 salt trucks in New York City alone," Colonel Talbot said. The increase in forecasting accuracy directly impacts emergency management capabilities by reducing the unnecessary dispatch of resources, which can be costly.

"If you collect the right information at the right place -- over the Pacific Ocean -- you can make a big impact to the forecast four to five days later," Colonel Talbot said. The idea is to fly winter storms before they happen to make the forecast better for the entire Northeastern community.

Colder weather at high altitudes presents a unique challenge to the Hurricane Hunters since the crew must remain cognizant of icing, said Maj. Kevin Fryar, a 53rd WRS aerial reconnaissance weather officer.

The Hurricane Hunters fly WC-130Js at high altitudes, typically 5 to 10,000 feet above their normal range, and drop small weather canisters, or dropsondes, designed to collect weather data in key locations of high-weather activity.

Weather information collected from the dropsondes is then transmitted to the National Weather Service and is ultimately used by forecasters to assess weather patterns enabling them to forecast more accurately.

In a storm, data is transmitted to the National Weather Agency and is later passed on to the Air Force Weather Network, Colonel Talbot said.

"When you fly a hurricane mission, you know you're making a difference," Colonel Talbot said. "With this mission, we know there are people waiting for the information we give to make the best possible forecast. It's essentially the same thing (as a hurricane mission)."

To Colonel Talbot, a 24-year veteran to the weather field, the experience is as rewarding as it is beneficial.

"What other meteorologists get to fly? You get the best of both worlds." he said.

To the people waiting for the forecast, the information he collects can mean the difference between spending hundreds of thousands in preparing for the weather rather than millions of dollars reacting to it.

Hurricane Hunters support weather study from Guam

by Tech. Sgt. Brian Bahret, 36th Wing Public Affairs


ANDERSEN AIR FORCE BASE, Guam (AFPN) -- Two Air Force Reserve WC-130J Hercules and a Naval Research Lab P-3 Orion deployed here recently to conduct meteorological research on tropical cyclones in the Western Pacific from August through September.

During the project, labeled Tropical Cyclone Structure-2008, aircrews from the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron "Hurricane Hunters" at Keesler Air Force Base, Miss., will work with scientists from the U.S. Office of Naval Research and the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory.

The agencies, both located in Monterey, Calif., are conducting a multi-national study to understand, observe and predict the potential impacts of Pacific tropical cyclones.

"It is part of a nine-nation project under the umbrella of the World Meteorological Organization, which is an arm of the United Nations," said Patrick Harr, a professor at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif., and lead scientist for the program. "The overall goal is to increase predictability associated with all aspects of tropical cyclones over the western North Pacific."

Russell Elsberry, a professor of meteorology at the NPS who is assisting with the study said researchers from Japan, Korea and Taiwan are supporting the endeavor. He added Germany, England, France and the European Union are also assisting because the information learned in the Pacific could be applied to predicting similar events in the Atlantic.

To facilitate the study, scientists enlisted the aid of the 53rd WRS and their WC-130s.

"The WC-130J is an essential component of the observational strategy to study the typhoon life cycle," said Professor Elsberry.

Fifteen 53rd WRS maintainers and 13 flyers are deployed to Andersen to ensure the aircraft are ready to fly 24 hours a day, according to Lt. Col. Roy Deatherage, 53rd WRS mission commander. The seasoned aircrews will monitor the cyclone and eventually fly into the storm's eye wall when it matures, chasing the storm until it transcends into something else entirely.

"Our mission here is to better understand the structure, the formation and what makes a tropical system tick out there in the Pacific," said Colonel Deatherage. "In its infancy, before it is even a tropical depression or hurricane, we'll go out and collect data."

The Hurricane Hunters are conducting their portion of the research using WC-130s fitted with a variety of equipment used for weather research.

"In flight, the aircraft measures 28 parameters including wind speed, direction, temperature -- all of this is sent real time via satellite from the plane to the customer back here [at Andersen]," said the colonel.

He said the equipment and sensors onboard will help provide key data for the research project.

According to the 53rd WRS officials, a critical piece of equipment onboard the aircraft is the dropsonde system. The GPS Dropsonde Windfinding System is a cylindrically-shaped instrument about 16 inches long and 3.5 inches in diameter and weighs approximately 2.5 pounds. The dropsonde is equipped with a high frequency radio and other sensing devices and is released from the aircraft about every 400 miles over water.

The scientists will rely heavily on the data collected by the dropsondes as they fall to the ocean.

"A critical mission of the WC-130 with its dropsonde deployments, and especially the Stepped Frequency Microwave Radiometer, is to observe the typhoon intensity and wind structure in as many conditions as possible from the formation stage to the extra-tropical transition stage," said Professor Elsberry.

As the instrument descends to the sea surface, it measures and relays to the aircraft a vertical atmospheric profile of the temperature, humidity and barometric pressure and wind data, explained Colonel Deatherage.

Professor Elsberry said the aircrews will actively monitor and report on how tropical cyclones form, intensify and change through their life cycle and the impact they may later have across the North Pacific and potentially North America.

"The measurements will fill a critical gap in the validation of the satellite-based techniques for intensity estimation, which thus far have only been validated in the Atlantic where the WC-130Js of the 53rd WRS regularly fly such missions," said Professor Elsberry. "Since the typhoons typically form from monsoon conditions and have different structures than hurricanes, these WC-130J measurements are extremely important."

From Guam, the information is processed and sent to the operations center at the NPS in Monterey.

"They're the brain trust for all of this. They'll put it into a computer model," said Colonel Deatherage.

The data collected by the WC-130s at Andersen are only one piece of the puzzle; three other research aircraft will measure different aspects of the storm.

"There are four aircraft in total that will be moving about the (Western Pacific) from Andersen (Air Base) to Kadena (AB, Japan) to Atsugi, Yokota and Misawa in Japan to collect data on the storms as they approach Japan," said Professor Elsberry.

A Naval Research Libratory P-3 Orion, also flying from Andersen AB, will collect data using its ELDORA radar which maps the structure of the storm. An Astra business-class jet will fly out of Taiwan and a Falcon business-class jet will fly from the U.S. Naval Air Facility-Atsugi, Japan. Both aircraft are modified with equipment for meteorological studies.

In addition to the aircraft, scientists working from Hawaii will launch high-altitude driftsondes to round out the research. Driftsondes are zero-pressure balloons that go up to 60,000 feet, according to Colonel Deatherage. He said the balloon has a gondola that has small dropsondes the scientists can release remotely by satellite.

"It is really the first research program that plans to observe the entire lifecycle of a tropical cyclone from formation near Guam to transition into the midlatitudes near Japan," said Professor Harr. He said the data collected will be invaluable to helping scientists understand and predict similar events in the Pacific and the Atlantic.

Smurfs up: Keesler Hurricane Hunters ready for storm season

KEESLER AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. (AFPN) -- When Hurricane Hunter crews from Keesler Air Force Base track severe storms in 2008 with their WC-130J Hercules aircraft, they will do so with the latest equipment received Feb. 15 that will collect data and provide weather warnings.

Members of Air Force Reserve Command's 403rd Wing took delivery of the last of 10 stepped-frequency microwave radiometers, known as "smurfs," that are state-of-the-art instruments designed to continuously and accurately measure the winds at the ocean's surface directly below an aircraft.

The technologically advanced WC-130J began to be upgraded last year with the smurf, enhancing the lifesaving storm data collection by the only operational weather reconnaissance squadron in the world. Airmen of the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron use WC-130Js to track hurricanes, tropical depressions and severe weather.

"The SFMR will be the biggest advance I can think of to improve hurricane intensity forecasts," said Max Mayfield, the National Hurricane Center former director.

As a plane flies through a storm, the SFMR senses microwave radiation naturally emitted from foam created on the sea by winds at the surface. Computers then determine wind speeds based on the levels of microwave radiation detected.

In the past, crews extrapolated wind speeds at the aircraft's altitude or from a dropsonde released from the aircraft.

The smurf directly measures the surface winds and is not confined to a single point like the dropsonde. This constant measurement of surface winds gives National Hurricane Center officials a more complete picture of the storm.

The smurf can also determine rainfall rates within a storm system. This, in addition to wind speeds at flight level, provides structural detail of the storm.

The Hurricane Hunters improve the accuracy of the National Hurricane Center's forecast by 30 percent, a number likely to rise with the use of the smurf.

USAF WC-130J Crews Hunt Atl Coast Hurricanes

I will be publishing Hurricane event related frequencies on the sister blog to this one, my Btown Monitoring Post at http://monitor-post.blogspot.com/ during the hurricane season which starts June 1. Be sure to check often.

KEESLER AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. (AFNEWS) -- Although the 2007 Atlantic Ocean hurricane season officially starts June 1, Keesler Air Force Base's Hurricane Hunters got off to an early start.

Flying a specially equipped WC-130 Hercules, Airmen from the Air Force Reserve Command's 403rd Wing tracked their first tropical disturbance May 9 off the coast of Georgia.

Timing of the mission was reminiscent of the early start of the 2005 record-breaking-hurricane season which stirred up May 20 with Tropical Storm Adrian.

The state-of-the-art WC-130J equipped with a Stepped-Frequency Microwave Radiometer measures surface winds directly below the aircraft.

"The SFMR will be the biggest advance I can think of to improve hurricane intensity forecasts," said Max Mayfield, the former director of the National Hurricane Center.

Data collected by the Hurricane Hunters resulted in the National Hurricane Center naming the storm Subtropical Storm Andrea.

Andrea's minimum central pressure was at 29.62 inches, moving west at 3 mph with sustained winds at 45 mph extending outward up to 115 miles.

The radiometer can also determine rainfall rates within a storm system. This information in addition to wind speeds at flight level provides structural detail of the storm.

Information collected by the Hurricane Hunters increase the accuracy of the National Hurricane Center's forecasts by as much as 30 percent. This data enables the National Hurricane Center to predict more accurately the path of storms in order to save lives and narrow areas of evacuation, center forecasters said. They expect the accuracy of their forecasts to increase with the use of the SFMR.

Two Hurricane Hunter aircraft will be equipped with the radiometers by the end of June with one added each month until all of the 403rd Wing's 10 WC-130J aircraft are outfitted with the SFMR pod.