Pat Shingleton for May 4, 2008
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On April 16, Dave Nussbaum and I visited Lakefront Airport in New Orleans. We met with representatives of NOAA’s Aircraft Operations Center, the National Weather Service and interviewed the new director of the Hurricane Center. On the tarmac was the workhorse of the Hurricane Center’s fleet, the P-3 Orion.
In years past, hurricane hunters were able to estimate wind speeds from the aircraft’s altitude and by dropping a GPS radiosonde. The fleet is now equipped with stepped frequency microwave radiometers to gauge the intensity and size of storms. The radiometer detects radiation from sea foam caused by surface winds and measures rainfall rates. This data gives a more complete picture of the storm.
Fastcast: Comfortable.
