DOCSLIB.ORG

Environmental Security Through Intelligence and Stewardship Rear Admiral Michael J

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Environmental Security Through Intelligence and Stewardship Rear Admiral Michael J Environmental Security Through Intelligence and Stewardship Rear Admiral Michael J. Silah Director, NOAA Corps and OMAO Heritage of the NOAA Commissioned Officer Corps Faced with tough national security and economic challenges and a natural world governed by powerful and mysterious forces that often threatened life, property and commerce, President Thomas Jefferson created a new federal agency in 1807 to support the nation’s defense, promote the well-being of its citizens and unlock nature’s secrets. The new agency’s mission was to chart the nation’s coastal waters to ensure that ships could move civilians, troops and materiel safely. Its very existence was recognition that our national security and economic vitality are closely and inseparably linked with our understanding of the environment. During the next 150 years, that agency, the Survey of the Coast (later the Coast & Geodetic Survey(C&GS)), would prove itself in war as well as in peacetime. With America’s entry into World War I, a commissioned service of the C&GS was formed in 1917 to ensure the rapid assimilation of C&GS technical skills for defense purposes. During World War II, officers and civilians of the C&GS produced nautical and aeronautical charts, provided critical geospatial information to artillery units and conducted reconnaissance surveys. Today, the work of the C&GS and more is conducted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the NOAA Commissioned Officer Corps. The direct descendants of the C&GS, NOAA and the NOAA Corps work every day to keep the nation secure and productive by providing products and services that: support maritime domain awareness; help ensure safe passage of commercial and military traffic on our nation’s waterways; warn mariners, aviators and the public of severe weather; aid search and rescue efforts; and conserve and protect our natural resources. Specialized aircraft for a vital need NOAA’s Office of Marine and Aviation Operations operates, manages and maintains a fleet of nine highly specialized aircraft that provide a wide range of airborne capabilities. The agency’s two Lockheed WP-3D Orion turboprop “hurricane hunter” aircraft are equipped with an unprecedented variety of scientific instrumentation, radars and recording systems for both in situ and remote sensing measurements of the atmosphere, the earth and its environment. With NOAA’s Gulfstream IV-SP hurricane surveillance jet, these aircraft greatly improve our physical understanding of hurricanes and enhance the accuracy of tropical cyclone forecasts. To ensure that NOAA can continue to fulfill their vital environmental intelligence-gathering missions well into the future, one of NOAA’s WP-3D (N42RF) has undergone significant upgrades to extend the service life of the aircraft another 15 to 20 years. This WP-3D has been refitted with newly refurbished wings, more fuel-efficient engines, and state-of-the-art avionics and has also returned to the skies with a new paint scheme. NOAA’s other WP-3D (N43RF) is currently at the U.S. Navy’s Fleet Readiness Center Southeast in Jacksonville, Florida undergoing the same upgrades. NOAA’s light aircraft also play a vital role in monitoring our environment. The agency’s King Air, Turbo Commander, and Twin Otter aircraft support marine mammal population studies, shoreline change assessments, oil spill investigations and snowpack surveys for spring flood forecasts. Operated, managed and maintained by a team of highly trained NOAA Corps officers and civilians, NOAA aircraft operate in some of the world’s most remote and demanding environments over open ocean, mountains, coastal wetlands and Arctic pack ice, and in and around hurricanes and other severe weather with an exemplary safety record. There are no comparable aircraft in the commercial fleet to support NOAA’s atmospheric and hurricane surveillance and research programs. Recapitalizing the NOAA ship fleet Seagoing vessels have been, and will continue to be, a primary source of observation data, providing measurements of physical and biological oceanography and supporting NOAA’s information and ecosystem management services. NOAA currently operates, manages and maintains a fleet of 16 research and survey ships, comprising the largest fleet of federal research ships in the country. Ranging from large oceanographic research vessels capable of exploring the world’s oceans to smaller ships responsible for charting shallow U.S. bays and inlets, the fleet supports a wide range of activities, including fisheries research, nautical charting, and ocean and climate studies. Every year, NOAA’s ships conduct more than 100 missions for collection of data critical for nautical charts, fishery quotas, exploration of America’s 4.3-million-square-mile exclusive economic zone, storm surge modeling and weather forecasting. NOAA, other U.S. government agencies, communities and businesses around the nation rely on this data to keep U.S. ports open to maritime commerce, understand changes to the planet, monitor the health of fish stocks and plan for severe storm events. While other federal and academic agencies perform marine research and collect at-sea data, NOAA is unique in its roles of collecting data that directly feeds products and services vital to the economy and health of the nation, as well as researching new technology and methodology to improve the reliability and accuracy of the products and services. NOAA is unique in the capabilities of its fleet and expertise of its maritime workforce of NOAA Corps officers and civilian wage mariners trained specifically for these missions. The demand for NOAA’s environmental data continues to grow as more people live and work near or on the coasts and thus are affected by ocean-driven weather patterns. More than 1.2 million people move to the coast each year, with 39 percent of our nation’s people now residing in coastal communities. In 2014 alone, $1.75 trillion worth of U.S. goods moved through our ports, representing more than 71 percent of U.S. imports and exports by weight. In 2016, NOAA released The NOAA Fleet Plan: Building NOAA’s 21st-Century Fleet, which identifies an integrated approach consisting of best management practices and long-term recapitalization levers to extend and sustain our capabilities. This plan includes the critical long-term strategy of designing and constructing up to eight new ships specifically designed to meet NOAA core capability requirements. In 2017 NOAA’s Office of Marine and Aviation Operations took an even larger step to meet this demand. The purchase of the NOAA AGOR (Auxiliary General Oceanographic Research) Variant, NOAA’s next ocean class vessel, was facilitated. This vessel will be designed in collaboration with the U.S. Navy and will feature a range up to 10,000 nm and a dynamic positioning system among other capabilities and cutting edge technology. This vessel will conduct missions such as: oceanographic modeling, marine geology, bathymetry, ocean engineering, marine acoustics as well as others. Partnering for success We continued in 2017 to enhance and expand our partnerships, including with the nation’s other uniformed services. We strengthened our relationship with the U.S Navy by collaborating to design and purchase our newest NOAA ship as well as completing ‘nose-to-tail” upgrades on the WP-3D hurricane hunter at the U.S. Navy’s Fleet Readiness Center Southeast in Jacksonville, Florida. Among our oldest and most steadfast partners is the U.S. Coast Guard. For more than 200 years, our two agencies have worked in partnership to promote, conduct and sustain maritime resilience, environmental sustainability and scientific research, from the Gulf of Mexico to the Arctic. We continue to build on our partnership with the Coast Guard to leverage our respective capabilities and assets where we have common interests, including the servicing of NOAA ships at the Coast Guard Yard at Curtis Bay in Maryland and the exchange of officers. The NOAA Corps and the Coast Guard continue to jointly train newly commissioned NOAA Corps officers and Coast Guard officer candidates at the Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut. OMAO has also continued to partner with industry, academia and other federal agencies. These partnerships have promoted cross-training while cultivating new technologies and alternative strategies for data collection and observation. Mission-ready The Atlantic hurricane season of 2017 will definitely be one to remember. The 10 hurricanes that made landfall left physical and financial effects that will last for years. NOAA ships, aircraft and personnel worked tirelessly last season to mitigate the impacts of the 17 named storms. In mid-August NOAA hurricane hunters were deployed to fly missions into Hurricane Harvey. What they didn’t foresee was a barrage of storms that would lead to 51 straight days of hurricane reconnaissance flights. NOAA's preliminary data show that through the use of the data that was acquired aboard NOAA aircraft the National Hurricane Center issued forecasts with record-setting accuracy. Additionally, storm track forecasts for the three most damaging hurricanes were about 25 percent more accurate than average. NOAA aircraft played a pivotal role in gathering information about these powerful storms, however, NOAA ships pitched in as well. NOAA Ship Thomas Jefferson’s response in the wake of Hurricane Maria was essential in re-opening 18 critical port facilities in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands by conducting underwater and shoreline surveys to identify navigation hazards, as well as repairs to tide and weather observation stations. While today’s challenges differ in many ways from those Thomas Jefferson confronted, the foundations of a strong defense, a highly trained and adaptable uniformed force, robust infrastructure and domain awareness, remain the same. As we navigate in this dynamic, 21st-century world, we continue to build a NOAA Corps that continually senses change and continually adapts. We are also building leaders to meet the challenges of the next 100 years Rear Admiral Michael J.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Tropical Cyclone Report for Hurricane Ivan
    Tropical Cyclone Report Hurricane Ivan 2-24 September 2004 Stacy R. Stewart National Hurricane Center 16 December 2004 Updated 27 May 2005 to revise damage estimate Updated 11 August 2011 to revise damage estimate Ivan was a classical, long-lived Cape Verde hurricane that reached Category 5 strength three times on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale (SSHS). It was also the strongest hurricane on record that far south east of the Lesser Antilles. Ivan caused considerable damage and loss of life as it passed through the Caribbean Sea. a. Synoptic History Ivan developed from a large tropical wave that moved off the west coast of Africa on 31 August. Although the wave was accompanied by a surface pressure system and an impressive upper-level outflow pattern, associated convection was limited and not well organized. However, by early on 1 September, convective banding began to develop around the low-level center and Dvorak satellite classifications were initiated later that day. Favorable upper-level outflow and low shear environment was conducive for the formation of vigorous deep convection to develop and persist near the center, and it is estimated that a tropical depression formed around 1800 UTC 2 September. Figure 1 depicts the “best track” of the tropical cyclone’s path. The wind and pressure histories are shown in Figs. 2a and 3a, respectively. Table 1 is a listing of the best track positions and intensities. Despite a relatively low latitude (9.7o N), development continued and it is estimated that the cyclone became Tropical Storm Ivan just 12 h later at 0600 UTC 3 September.
    [Show full text]
  • ISAIAS (AL092020) 30 July–4 August 2020
    NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER TROPICAL CYCLONE REPORT HURRICANE ISAIAS (AL092020) 30 July–4 August 2020 Andy Latto, Andrew Hagen, and Robbie Berg National Hurricane Center 1 11 June 2021 GOES-16 10.3-µM INFRARED SATELLITE IMAGE OF HURRICANE ISAIAS AT 0310 UTC 04 AUGUST 2020 AS IT MADE LANDFALL NEAR OCEAN ISLE BEACH, NORTH CAROLINA. Isaias was a hurricane that formed in the eastern Caribbean Sea. The storm affected the Leeward Islands, Puerto Rico, Hispaniola, Cuba, the Bahamas, and a large portion of the eastern United States. 1 Original report date 30 March 2021. Second version on 15 April updated Figure 12. This version corrects a wind gust value in the Winds and Pressures section and the track length of a tornado in Delaware. Hurricane Isaias 2 Table of Contents SYNOPTIC HISTORY .......................................................................................... 3 METEOROLOGICAL STATISTICS ...................................................................... 5 Winds and Pressure ........................................................................................... 5 Caribbean Islands and Bahamas ..................................................................... 6 United States ................................................................................................... 6 Rainfall and Flooding ......................................................................................... 7 Storm Surge ....................................................................................................... 8 Tornadoes .......................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • HURRICANE TEDDY (AL202020) 12–23 September 2020
    r d NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER TROPICAL CYCLONE REPORT HURRICANE TEDDY (AL202020) 12–23 September 2020 Eric S. Blake National Hurricane Center 28 April 2021 NASA TERRA MODIS VISIBLE SATELLITE IMAGE OF HURRICANE TEDDY AT 1520 UTC 22 SEPTEMBER 2020. Teddy was a classic, long-lived Cape Verde category 4 hurricane on the Saffir- Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. It passed northeast of the Leeward Islands and became extremely large over the central Atlantic, eventually making landfall in Nova Scotia as a 55-kt extratropical cyclone. There were 3 direct deaths in the United States due to rip currents. Hurricane Teddy 2 Hurricane Teddy 12–23 SEPTEMBER 2020 SYNOPTIC HISTORY Teddy originated from a strong tropical wave that moved off the west coast of Africa on 10 September, accompanied by a large area of deep convection. The wave was experiencing moderate northeasterly shear, but a broad area of low pressure and banding features still formed on 11 September a few hundred n mi southwest of the Cabo Verde Islands. Convection decreased late that day, as typically happens in the evening diurnal minimum period, but increased early on 12 September. This convection led to the development of a well-defined surface center, confirmed by scatterometer data, and the formation of a tropical depression near 0600 UTC 12 September about 500 n mi southwest of the Cabo Verde Islands. The “best track” chart of the tropical cyclone’s path is given in Fig. 1, with the wind and pressure histories shown in Figs. 2 and 3, respectively. The best track positions and intensities are listed in Table 1.1 After the depression formed, further development was slow during the next couple of days due to a combination of northeasterly shear, dry air in the mid-levels and the large size and radius of maximum winds of the system.
    [Show full text]
  • Hurricane Lane Flight and Mission Info Recap
    NOAA’s Office of Marine and Aviation Operations (OMAO) Hurricane Surveillance and Reconnaissance Flight and Mission Info Recap Hurricane Lane August 27, 2018 1 Contents Aircraft Operations ....................................................................................................................................... 3 Hurricane Reconnaissance Flight Info: Hurricane Hunters - WP-3 and G-IV Aircraft ................................... 4 When and where did the Hurricane Hunters fly during Hurricane Lane? ................................................ 4 What were the Hurricane Hunter flight paths? ........................................................................................ 5 What data was gathered and why is it important? .................................................................................. 5 WP-3 (N42RF) Flight Paths ........................................................................................................................ 6 G-IV (N49RF) Flight Paths .......................................................................................................................... 7 Composite Flight Paths: WP-3 (N42RF) G-IV (N49RF) ............................................................................... 8 2 Aircraft Operations The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) fleet of nine manned aircraft is operated, managed and maintained by NOAA’s Office of Marine and Aviation Operations (OMAO) and the NOAA Commissioned Officer Corps based at OMAO’s Aircraft Operations Center (AOC).
    [Show full text]
  • HURRICANE IRMA (AL112017) 30 August–12 September 2017
    NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER TROPICAL CYCLONE REPORT HURRICANE IRMA (AL112017) 30 August–12 September 2017 John P. Cangialosi, Andrew S. Latto, and Robbie Berg National Hurricane Center 1 24 September 2021 VIIRS SATELLITE IMAGE OF HURRICANE IRMA WHEN IT WAS AT ITS PEAK INTENSITY AND MADE LANDFALL ON BARBUDA AT 0535 UTC 6 SEPTEMBER. Irma was a long-lived Cape Verde hurricane that reached category 5 intensity on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. The catastrophic hurricane made seven landfalls, four of which occurred as a category 5 hurricane across the northern Caribbean Islands. Irma made landfall as a category 4 hurricane in the Florida Keys and struck southwestern Florida at category 3 intensity. Irma caused widespread devastation across the affected areas and was one of the strongest and costliest hurricanes on record in the Atlantic basin. 1 Original report date 9 March 2018. Second version on 30 May 2018 updated casualty statistics for Florida, meteorological statistics for the Florida Keys, and corrected a typo. Third version on 30 June 2018 corrected the year of the last category 5 hurricane landfall in Cuba and corrected a typo in the Casualty and Damage Statistics section. This version corrects the maximum wind gust reported at St. Croix Airport (TISX). Hurricane Irma 2 Hurricane Irma 30 AUGUST–12 SEPTEMBER 2017 SYNOPTIC HISTORY Irma originated from a tropical wave that departed the west coast of Africa on 27 August. The wave was then producing a widespread area of deep convection, which became more concentrated near the northern portion of the wave axis on 28 and 29 August.
    [Show full text]
  • The Scoop on Hurricane Cones (Video)
    The Scoop on Hurricane Cones (Video) In South Florida, we’re all familiar with forecast cones that show where a hurricane or tropical storm is likely to go during the next three to five days. But how they’re made and exactly what they mean is not as well known. Forecast cones are graphic representations of the National Hurricane Center’s latest forecast, and a lot of data is needed to make the forecast and construct the cone. Meteorologists rely on data from satellites when a tropical system is well out to sea, and that’s supplemented by radar data when a tropical storm or hurricane is within radar range (usually a couple of hundred miles or so). But often the most useful data will come from hurricane reconnaissance aircraft that fly into a storm – what the public calls “hurricane hunters.” Actually, there are two organizations that fly hurricane-related missions: NOAA and the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron of the U.S. Air Force Reserve. NOAA Hurricane Hunters #NOAA42, #NOAA43, and #NOAA49 getting ready for the season. Credit: Jonathan Shannon, NOAA. NOAA’s aircraft are based in Lakeland, Florida. Its fleet consists of two WP-3D Orions (nicknamed Kermit and Miss Piggy) and a Gulfstream G-IV jet (known as Gonzo) – but this “Muppet Show” is serious about its missions. Kermit and Miss Piggy are equipped with radar and drop instrument packages called dropsondes into a tropical system as they fly a clover-shaped pattern. They’re the mainstays of the fleet, and they send back data that’s critical in track and intensity forecasting.
    [Show full text]
  • NOAA Fleet Update
    NOAA Fleet Update October 2017 The following update provides the status of NOAA’s fleet of ships and aircraft, which play a critical role in the collection of oceanographic, atmospheric, hydrographic, and fisheries data. NOAA’s current fleet of 16 ships – the largest civilian research and survey fleet in the world – and nine aircraft, are operated, managed, and maintained by NOAA’s Office of Marine and Aviation Operations (OMAO). OMAO includes civilians, mariners, and officers of the United States NOAA Commissioned Officer Corps (NOAA Corps), one of the nation’s seven Uniformed Services. Find us on Facebook for the latest news and activities. Table of Contents Please click on the Table of Contents entry below to be taken directly to a specific ship, center, aircraft, asset, program, or information. The fleet is listed based on the geographical location of their homeport/base starting in the Northeast and ending in the Pacific. Hurricanes Irma, Jose, and Maria .............................................................................................................. 4 Reconaissance and Response Flights ..................................................................................................... 4 OMAO and the NOAA Corps – In the News .............................................................................................. 5 100th Anniversary of the NOAA Corps ...................................................................................................... 6 Basic Officer Training Class (BOTC) .......................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • The National Hurricane Center and Forecasting Hurricanes: 2017 Overview and 2018 Outlook
    The National Hurricane Center and Forecasting Hurricanes: 2017 Overview and 2018 Outlook Updated August 23, 2018 Congressional Research Service https://crsreports.congress.gov R45264 NHC and Forecasting Hurricanes: 2017 Overview and 2018 Outlook Summary The National Hurricane Center (NHC), part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA’s) National Weather Service (NWS), is responsible for forecasting hurricanes in the Atlantic Ocean and the eastern Pacific Ocean. The NHC provides estimates of the path of a storm (i.e., hurricane track), the intensity, and the size and structure of the storm, as well as predictions of storm surge, rainfall, and even tornadoes. Depending on the storm’s status, this information may be used to create a hurricane watch or a hurricane warning and public advisories, which are issued on an increasingly frequent basis if a storm strengthens and approaches the U.S. coastline. Three major hurricanes struck the continental United States, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico in 2017, causing severe damage: Harvey, Irma, and Maria. Hurricane Harvey was the first major hurricane to strike the continental U.S. coast since 2005, achieving category 4 strength before making landfall along the Texas coast on August 25, 2017. According to the NHC, Harvey “was the most significant tropical cyclone rainfall event in United States history, both in scope and peak rainfall amounts, since reliable records began around the 1880s.” Hurricane Irma was the second major hurricane to strike the continental U.S. coast in 2017, making landfall in the Florida Keys on September 10. Irma’s large wind field produced significant storm-surge flooding along the northeastern coast of Florida, even though the storm made landfall in southwestern Florida.
    [Show full text]
  • Downloaded 09/25/21 08:05 PM UTC 2524 JOURNAL of the ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES VOLUME 75 Features, Such As Hurricanes, Remains an Open Question TABLE 1
    AUGUST 2018 V O N I C H A N D H A K I M 2523 Hurricane Kinetic Energy Spectra from In Situ Aircraft Observations P. TRENT VONICH AND GREGORY J. HAKIM Department of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington (Manuscript received 12 September 2017, in final form 22 April 2018) ABSTRACT Since the pioneering paper by Nastrom and Gage on aircraft-derived power spectra, significant progress has been made in understanding the wavenumber distribution of energy in Earth’s atmosphere and its implica- tions for the intrinsic limits of weather forecasting. Improvements in tropical cyclone intensity predictions have lagged those of global weather forecasting, and limited intrinsic predictability may be partially re- sponsible. In this study, we construct power spectra from aircraft data of over 1200 missions carried out by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and Air Force Reserve Command (AFRC) Hurricane Hunters. Each mission is parsed into distinct flight legs, and legs meeting a specified set of criteria are used for spectral analysis. Here, we produce power spectra composites for each category of the Saffir– Simpson scale, revealing a systematic relationship between spectral slope and storm intensity. Specifically, as storm intensity increases, we find that 1) spectral slope becomes steeper across scales from 10 to 160 km and 2) the transition zone where spectral slope begins to steepen shifts downscale. 1. Introduction predictability when p , 3, whereas systems governed by p $ 3 have unlimited predictability. While Lorenz The challenge of enhancing hurricane wind speed (1969) considered the predictability of flows within the forecasts is thought to involve several aspects of the two-dimensional vorticity equation framework, Rotunno modeling process.
    [Show full text]
  • Teacher in the Air Dr. Diane's Flight with the NOAA Hurricane Hunters
    TEACHER in the AIR, Dr. Diane’s Flight with NOAA Hurricane Hunters Dr. Diane’s Flight with the NOAA Hurricane Hunters Diane Marie Stanitski and John J. Adler Written by: Diane Marie Stanitski and John J. Adler Illustrations by: Bruce David Cowden A National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Publication A National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Publication Biographies Diane Stanitski is a climatologist and associate professor at Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania where she teaches meteorology and atmospheric science courses. She served as both a NOAA Teacher in the Air in 2005 and a NOAA Teacher at Sea in 2002. She worked as a program manager in the NOAA Office of Climate Observation from 2003- 2005 to help build the global ocean observing system. Diane was co-author of the book, Teacher at Sea: Miss Cook’s Voyage on the RONALD H. BROWN. She is passionate about science and loves spending time with her family, traveling, playing soccer, and running. John Adler is a Lieutenant Commander in the NOAA Corps and served for five years as a navigator onboard Miss Piggy, the NOAA Hurricane Hunter plane. Previously, he served for 11 years as an aerial navigator specializing in Polar Regions in the US Navy. John is currently an Instrument Manager for the next generation polar orbiting operational environmental satellite system (NPOESS) at NOAA. He lives in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, with his three sons, Austen, Ian, and Collin. Together, they enjoy sailing, reading, bicycling, and Macintosh computers. Bruce Cowden is Chief Boatswain on the RONALD H. BROWN (RHB) and was illustrator for the book, Teacher at Sea: Miss Cook’s Voyage on the RONALD H.
    [Show full text]
  • NEWSLETTER Winter 2008-2009
    RESEARCH ASSOCIATESHIP PROGRAMS NEWSLETTER Winter 2008-2009 TABLE OF CONTENTS NOAA AOML Hurricane Research 2 NOAA AOML Hurricane Hunters—Zhang and Marks 3 Hurricane Research NRC Participating Agencies 4 The Hurricane Research Division (HRD) is part of the Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory (AOML) which is part of AFRL John L. McLucas Award for Basic the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. They are engaged Research—Kozma and Perlovsky 5 in advancing the basic physical understanding and improving the forecasts of hurricanes and tropical meteorological systems. A key aspect of HRD's AMRMC—Yershov Blackwell Award 6 activity is its annual field program of flights aboard NOAA’s research aircraft (two WP-#D turboprops and a Gulfstream IV-SP jet) flown by FHWA—Arndt receives ASNT Award 7 NOAA's Aircraft Operations Center. Navy Meritorious Civilian Service Award-- HISTORY Kathryn Wahl 8 The Division began fifty years ago as the National Hurricane Research Project and has, under various names, continued to conduct scientific re- search into hurricanes and related tropical weather phenomena, using theo- NIST—David J. Wineland Awarded 2007 retical studies, computer models, and an annual field program employing National Medal of Science 9 NOAA hurricane research aircraft. HRD employs meteorologists, com- NRL—Kassim Study Reveals Galaxy puter scientists, and other professionals who collaborate with governmen- Cluster in Collision 10 tal and academic scientists worldwide in this ongoing effort to develop scientific knowledge toward the improvement of forecasts and the ad- vancement of public safety. NRC Exhibits 11 continued on page 2 NOAA Hurricane Hunters article on page 3 Ray Gamble, Ph.D., Director, Research Associateship Programs Suzanne White, Manager, Newsletter Left to right: Dr.
    [Show full text]
  • HURRICANE LANE (EP142018) 15-28 August 2018
    NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER CENTRAL PACIFIC HURRICANE CENTER TROPICAL CYCLONE REPORT HURRICANE LANE (EP142018) 15-28 August 2018 John L. Beven II National Hurricane Center Derek Wroe Central Pacific Hurricane Center 16 December 20191 GOES WEST VISIBLE IMAGE OF LANE AT 0000 UTC 23 AUGUST NEAR MAXIMUM INTENSITY. Lane was a long-lived tropical cyclone that moved across the eastern and central Pacific as a major hurricane for six days, becoming only the fifth category 5 hurricane (on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale) on record in the central Pacific basin. Lane produced significant flooding and fanned devastating wildfires across the Hawaiian Islands. 1 Original report released 2 April 2019. Updated 16 December 2019 to include best track analysis, summary, verification, impacts, and damages from the Central Pacific Hurricane Center. Hurricane Lane 2 Hurricane Lane 15-28 AUGUST 2018 SYNOPTIC HISTORY Lane was spawned by a tropical wave that emerged from the coast of Africa on 31 July. The wave moved steadily westward across the Atlantic with little or no convection for the next several days, and eventually reached the eastern Pacific on 8 August. Once over the Pacific, the associated convection gradually increased, and the system first showed signs of organized convection on 11 August. Thereafter, the convection became intermittent for the next few days, which slowed development. Despite the lack of persistent convection, a low pressure area formed in association with the disturbance on 13 August about 765 n mi south-southwest of the southern tip of the Baja California Peninsula. Convective banding gradually increased over the western semicircle of the low as the system moved generally westward, and this led to the formation of a tropical depression by 0000 UTC 15 August about 935 n mi southwest of the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula.
    [Show full text]