NHC Drones to be flown into hurricanes

[artist]

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/browar ... 2757.story
By Ken Kaye, Staff writerJune 8, 2014A bunch of Coyotes are ready to attack hurricanes this year — with their ultimate goal being to improve intensity forecasts.The small drones were developed in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy and will be tested for the first time this hurricane season. They'll be launched into the eye of tropical systems to detect barometric pressure changes.

''''''''''''''''''
More at link. I wonder up to what strength storm they will be able to survive flying through the eyewall. Should be interesting to see how this goes. Hopefully it can provide information on a storm where we have previously been somewhat blind.

[JonathanBelles]

Holy cow those things are expensive! Are they really worth it when we have the Global Hawk in there?

[wxman57]

The Global Hawk won't fly into the eye of a hurricane near the surface. These small UAVs will be able to fly around in the eye near the ocean surface to gather data for an extended period.

[artist]

Yeah, the expense will be phenomenonal, I'm sure. It's going to be curious to see how they fair, and if it doesn't fair well, will they continue to try? Anyone heard how many were ordered?
This, I believe, is similar to what Mark Sudduth aka hurricanetrack, is wanting to do, the concept, that is, but at landfall.
"HURRB is equipped with two GoPro3 cameras, a high-altitude weather computer, a SPOT locator satellite tracker and an APRS beacon that uses Amateur Radio to keep track of the payload and its location.The weather data is especially interesting to us since the ultimate goal is to launch HURRB in the eye of a hurricane at landfall. We will have air temperature, humidity and pressure logged every siix seconds throughout the duration of the flight Coupled with GPS data that will reveal the wind patterns and we have an opportunity to break new ground in understand the structure of a hurricane once it has crossed the coastline.Obviously the video from the GoPro cams will be exciting too. The payload will rise to at least 100,000 feet, putting it well over 60,000 feet above the hurricane. I cannot imagine what this view will look like but I hope to find out one day."

If both of these were to succeed, how much more accurate will the forecasts be?

[artist]

http://hurricanetrack.com/2014/06/02/te ... rrb-today/
that's Mark's link. His sounds a little more indestructible, but only good for landfall. I wonder if the drones will be made to float if they were to go down in one piece.

[artist]

Something else I found they are doing
http://www.navaldrones.com/NOAA.html
Liquid Robotics Signs R&D Agreement with NOAA24 April 2014 - Liquid Robotics and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) today announced the signing of a multi-year, Cooperative Research & Development Agreement (CRADA) designed to advance ocean observations to improve U.S. weather forecasting, fisheries management and environmental monitoring. The NOAA/Liquid Robotics CRADA combines the significant product capabilities of the Wave Glider, a revolutionary, wave powered unmanned ocean robot, with NOAA’s engineering, data analysis and modeling expertise for applications that will have long-term benefits to the general public. "Over several years, we’ve worked closely with Liquid Robotics on multiple applications with their innovative technology, the Wave Glider. We've used the Wave Glider to demonstrate advances in hurricane forecasting, measure CO2 levels, monitor the Arctic marine environment, detect tsunamis and collect fisheries data,” said Craig McLean, NOAA’s deputy assistant administrator of the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research. “I am pleased to establish this agreement to strengthen our important partnership and to improve environmental observations.” The NOAA/Liquid Robotics CRADA will focus research on th

[artist]

And more about the drones, supposedly they are cheap-

~National Geographic Daily News, July 25, 2013New drones made from disposable materials offer an inexpensive option for collecting data in high-risk environments—like measuring the speed of a wildfire or the temperature of a volcano. After use, the drones are left to decompose wherever they land. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has been using disposable and expendable unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) to track high-impact weather such as tropical cyclones and hurricanes. Because of their small size, UAS can also monitor marine sanctuaries and other protected ecosystems without human interference. "We want to get the cost as low as possible, so we use these instead of manned aircraft," said Robbie Hood, the UAS program director for NOAA. "We can put them in dangerous situations, so if we do lose them, we haven't lost human life..." <more>

http://www.aoc.noaa.gov/
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news ... m-chasers/