May 18, 2006 — As NOAA prepares for the 2006 hurricane season, scientists with the NOAA Hurricane Research Division (part of the NOAA Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory in Miami, Fla.) are celebrating 50-years of hurricane research.This May, in conjunction with Hurricane Preparedness Week, HRD/AOML will host an Open House and Hurricane Hunter aircraft tours for the public, as well as a dedication ceremony and banquet for previous employees and collaborators. (Click NOAA image for larger view of Bob Simpson, Director (on left) and R. Cecil Gentry, Assistant Director (on right) in front of the National Hurricane Research Project headquarters in West Palm Beach, Fla., in April 1956. Click here for high resolution version, which is a large file. Please credit “NOAA.”)

"The NOAA Hurricane Research Division began fifty years ago as the National Hurricane Research Project and has, under various names, continued to conduct scientific research into hurricanes and related tropical weather phenomena, using theoretical studies, computer models and an annual field program employing NOAA hurricane research aircraft. This research has resulted in a much deeper, scientific understanding of hurricanes and in numerous practical applications which have significantly improved NOAA hurricane forecasts," said Frank Marks, director of the Hurricane Research Division. "NOAA is committed to continuing this research in collaboration
with other governmental and academic scientists worldwide as part of an ongoing effort to
advance the nation's scientific understanding of and safety during hurricanes."

History of Hurricane Research in South Florida
Fifty years ago this April, some 20 scientists and technicians set up shop in a warehouse on the north side of Morrison Air Force Base (now Palm Beach International Airport) in West Palm Beach, Fla., to tackle a weather problem that had been plaguing mankind for millennia — the hurricane. Spurred by the devastating hurricane season of 1954, the United States Weather Bureau (now the NOAA National Weather Service formed the National Hurricane Research Project, under the directorship of Robert Simpson, co-inventor of the Saffir-Simpson hurricane damage scale along with Herbert Saffir, a Miami engineer. An unprecedented undertaking for the Bureau, it involved not only the core of researchers at Morrison Field, but also meteorologists from a number of other Bureau sections, academics from various American universities and aircraft and crew on loan from the United States Air Force Hurricane Hunters. The Project hoped to increase the nation's basic understanding of the structure and mechanics of hurricanes, and to translate that knowledge into better forecasts. (Click NOAA image for larger view of Robert Simpson, original director of the Hurricane Research Project, and his wife Joanne Simpson, head of Project STORMFURY, in Roosevelt Roads NAS, Puerto Rico in 1964. Please credit “NOAA.”)

Although Navy and Air Force planes had been flying reconnaissance missions into tropical cyclones for over a decade prior to this, little effort had been made to exploit these flights to gain scientific insights. What forecasters needed were better weather instruments, a means for automatically recording this data and meteorologists onboard the planes to guide the flights to maximize their scientific worth. The NHRP brought these elements together with two B-50 weather reconnaissance planes and one B-47 jet, on loan from the Air Force. They were outfitted with state-of-the-art (for that time) measuring devices, a card punch machine to save their readings and a handful of hardy Weather Bureau scientists willing to go aloft to collect the data. (Click NOAA image for larger view of hurricane researcher Harry Hawkins in the 1960s. Please credit “NOAA.”)

The Project operated out of West Palm Beach for three years as it undertook pioneering work in sketching out the structure, dynamics and energy budget of hurricanes. In 1959, NHRP moved south to Miami where it collocated with the Miami hurricane forecast center, a
combination that became known as the NOAA National Hurricane Center. NHRP also obtained their own civilian Hurricane Hunter aircraft and crews, although they continued a close collaboration with the Air Force and Navy reconnaissance squadrons. By 1964, the Project became designated a permanent Laboratory within the Weather Bureau (i.e.,the National Hurricane Research Laboratory), the aircraft operations had been split into a separate organization (i.e., Research Flight Facility, which later became the Office of Marine and Aviation Operations in 1970), and the NOAA NHC name came to be used exclusively by the forecast center. (Click NOAA image for larger view of DC-6 aircraft used in hurricane research from 1960 to 1975. Click here for high resolution version, which is a large file. Please credit “NOAA.”)

Contributions to Hurricane Research & Understanding
The National Hurricane Research Laboratory was the leading scientific organization in Project STORMFURY, the U.S. Government’s study of the effect of silver iodide seeding on hurricanes. From 1961 to 1983, STORMFURY carried out seeding experiments in four hurricanes in collaboration with the U.S. Navy, the U.S. Air Force, and the National Science Foundation. Restraints on where seeding could occur and a downturn in Atlantic hurricane activity in the 1970s and 1980s meant there were few opportunities to fly seeding experiments. However, NHRL did continue flying basic research missions into storms throughout this period, and the insights gained from those flights led scientists to question the efficacy of seeding as a means of diminishing hurricanes. (Click NOAA image for larger view of Anita 1977 wind profile. Click here for high resolution version, which is a large file. Please credit “NOAA.”)

Now named the Hurricane Research Division of the Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory, these scientists continue their flights aboard NOAA aircraft, operated by the NOAA Aircraft Operations Center in Tampa, Fla., gathering data and a deeper understanding of all stages of tropical cyclones. These scientists collaborate with many noted international researchers in academia, government and the military in ground breaking theoretical studies and in the development of operational tools for forecasters at the NOAA National Hurricane Center. Years of detailed research and participation in nearly 1,000 hurricane and tropical storm observing flights have yielded tremendous accomplishments, including:

• In 1982, flew the first Synoptic Flow mission, in which dropsondes were used to map out the synoptic scale winds driving the hurricane. This data was processed onboard the aircraft then relayed back to be incorporated into the forecast models, which resulted in up to 30 percent improvement.
• Aided in the development of the Sea, Lake Overland Surges from Hurricanes (also known as SLOSH) storm surge model.
• Developed a 12 level nested grid model (as well as quasi-spectral and non-hydrostatic computer models of hurricanes), which was the first ever three-dimensional mesoscale hurricane model and became the precursor for all regional hurricane models.
• Created a statistical intensity forecast program, the Statistical Hurricane Intensity Prediction Scheme (also known as SHIPS), which is the first intensity forecast scheme to show skill over (works better than) the Statistical Hurricane Intensity Forecast (also known as SHIFOR). (Click NOAA image for larger view of NOAA researcher, Al Goldstein, in the P3 cabin after Hugo in 1989. Click here for high resolution version, which is a large file. Please credit “NOAA.”)
• Contributed expertise in obtaining the Gulfstream IV hurricane hunter jet for Synoptic Flow-type operational missions.
• Evaluated new GPS dropsondes, and used them to detail the hurricane boundary layer in the eyewall for the first time.
• Evaluated the impact of GPS dropsondes on hurricane model accuracy since 1997.
• Developed H*Wind analysis package for the NOAA National Hurricane Center to allow forecasters to integrate wind data from different platforms into an integrated analysis.
• Contributed to the development and assessment of the Stepped Frequency Microwave Radiometer (also known as SFMR), which makes accurate estimate of surface wind from flight level.
• Designed and implemented system to use wireless data transfer to allow aircraft data to be sent directly to the NOAA NHC.
• Initiated the re-analysis of the Atlantic hurricane database, so that more accurate climatological assessments can be made. (Click NOAA image for larger view of NOAA P3 hurricane hunter aircraft. Click here for high resolution version, which is a large file. Please credit “NOAA.”)

NOAA Hurricane Research Accomplishments in 2005
2005 was a busy, yet highly successful, hurricane season for meteorologists and oceanographers at NOAA's Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory.
Major successes included improved wind
observations made possible by the SFMR, the
rapid-response post-Katrina environmental observation cruises lead by AOML scientists, and the fact that HRD scientists continued to provide research support even after Katrina impacted south Florida.

The main focus of hurricane research in 2005 was the Intensity Forecasting Experiment (also known as IFEX), which included a series of observations into eleven named tropical storms and hurricanes with a total of 81 flights onboard NOAA hurricane aircraft. The IFEX data collected will aid in uncovering the specific conditions conducive to storm development and help in the evaluation of operational numerical models.

NOAA researchers learned something new with each hurricane mission (Click on NOAA image to the right for a larger view of the 2005 Atlantic Storm Tracks. Please credit "NOAA."):

• Data collected from Hurricane Irene as part of the Saharan Air Layer experiment will be used to improve model forecasts of hurricane intensity change.
• Data from NOAA researcher’s seven aircraft missions from Katrina's south Florida landfall to the Louisiana landfall, were transmitted in real-time to the NOAA NHC and the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Prediction for use in preparing hurricane warnings and initializing hurricane models. These flights also marked the first delivery of analysis products of hurricane structure using Doppler radar.
• NOAA also worked with the National Science Foundation-sponsored Rainband Experiment (also known as RAINEX) Navy-P3 to address joint research objectives in Katrina during two of the missions in the Gulf of Mexico.
• NOAA’s first Aerosonde flight into an Atlantic storm took place on Sept. 16 as Tropical Storm Ophelia moved off the East Coast of the United States. This unique experiment tested the use of small unmanned aircraft at low altitudes within the hurricane environment.
• By deploying a series of airborne ocean probes, NOAA researchers found that the Gulf’s deep warm water loop current and its associated eddies played a role in providing a suitable environment for both Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, which both grew to category five status while in the Gulf of Mexico.
• Just up the east coast in Princeton, N.J., NOAA's hurricane computer modelers at the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory were also keeping a watch on the storms. The GFDL model is one of several used by the NOAA National Hurricane Center. In 2005, the GFDL model provided very reliable track guidance throughout the season. GFDL's model also provided improved skill in intensity forecasting, which was especially valuable during Hurricanes Dennis, Katrina, Rita and Wilma.

Hurricane Research Priorities for 2006
In addition to supporting their operational partners within NOAA and other federal agencies, NOAA HRD researchers will also be focusing on a number of research projects this hurricane season — namely continued hurricane "intensity" research, new efforts to improve hurricane modeling, and the use of unmanned aircraft in hurricane observations.

Although it is impossible to prevent hurricanes, advances by the NOAA HRD over the last 50 years (and its partners at the Tropical Prediction Center and the Environmental Modeling Center of the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Prediction) are making it easier for coastal residents to properly prepare for and survive the annual Atlantic hurricane season.

Relevant Web Sites
Hurricane Research Division History

A History of the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron

NOAA Hurricane Hunters

HIGHLIGHTS OF NOAA’S 2004 HURRICANE RESEARCH

NOAA HURRICANE RESEARCHERS GEARED UP FOR ANOTHER BUSY SEASON

NOAA’S HURRICANE ASSISTANCE SPANS MULTIPLE LEVELS – BEFORE, DURING AND EVEN AFTER THE STORM

NOAA MISSIONS NOW USE UNMANNED AIRCRAFT SYSTEMS

Media Contact:
Jana Goldman, NOAA Research, (301) 713-2483 or Erica Rule, NOAA Hurricane Research Division, (305) 361-4541