Paper on how swell modifies the interaction between the air and the sea published in Geophysical Research Letters

You can read the study at https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2020GL089883.

Paper on the amount of rotation in boundary-layer updrafts as seen from dropwindsondes published in Atmospheric Research

You can access the paper at https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0169809520312357. For more information, contact aoml.communications@noaa.gov.

Study on how different techniques to model the hurricane boundary layer can improve forecasts published in Atmosphere

In a new study published in Atmosphere, hurricane scientists looked at how turbulent mixing in the boundary layer affects the intensity and structure of hurricanes in NOAA’s Hurricane Weather Research and Forecasting (HWRF) model. They found that turbulent mixing affects where thunderstorms in hurricanes occur, and how fast air flows towards the center of a storm. Image …

Learn about the Hurricane Field Program with Kelly Ryan

During the typical Atlantic hurricane season from June 1 to November 30, NOAA aircraft collect crucial observations to improve the understanding and prediction of these massive cyclonic storms. Scientists at NOAA’s Hurricane Research Division in Miami Florida, fly into the heart of powerful storms to try and answer hypotheses prevalent in hurricane research, and support …

Learn about hurricane dynamics and physics research at AOML

Image of the sea surface from the NOAA Hurricane Hunter P3 aircraft. The destructive potential of a hurricane is governed by its interaction with the environment and physical processes internal to the storm. Researchers at AOML use a variety of tools to better understand how phenomena from the larger environmental scale down to the cloud …

Gopal presents work on model boundary-layer schemes to the HFIP bi-weekly meeting

Sundararaman "Gopal" Gopalakrishnan reported recent work on boundary-layer parameterization schemes in hurricane models at the 5 August bi-weekly Hurricane Forecast Improvement Program meeting. The hurricane boundary layer is the area of the atmosphere closest to the ocean air where the energy in the form of heat and moisture from the warm ocean is transferred to …

Joe Cione presents work on the future of hurricane reconnaissance using drones to the National Hurricane Center

Check out the slides at ftp://ftp.aoml.noaa.gov/pub/hrd/blog/seminars/2020/NHC_sUAS_June2020b_USE.pptx.

Paper on how the regions closest to the surface changed during the landfall of Hurricane Irene in 2011 published in The Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences

Summary: Objects on land and the land itself cause wind to be weaker at the surface than above due to friction.  In hurricanes, the strongest wind occurs where friction is no longer important, near the top of a region we call the boundary layer.  Some people live close to the surface, but others live in …

Article about flying the Coyote drone in hurricanes on the cover of the February 2020 issue of BAMS

You can read more about this study and access the research article at https://noaahrd.wordpress.com/2019/11/25/braving-the-eye-of-the-storm-research-from-drone-penetration-of-hurricane-eyewall-published/.

HRD Monthly Science Meeting of April 2020

April's science meeting consisted of four presentations: Xiaomin Chen -  "Evaluation of PBL schemes using a simple method of large-eddy simulations" Nicholas Foukal (WHOI) -  "Air-sea fluxes in the North Atlantic during extreme wind conditions" Andrew Hazelton - "Exploration of the Early Track and Intensity Uncertainty in Hurricane Dorian Using a HAFS Ensemble"  Frank Marks - "Pioneering …