Phys.org May 25, 2023 When the dust that wafts off the Sahel and Sahara regions of Africa mixes with tropical clouds, it creates rainy “disturbance” in the eastern Atlantic which are hurricanes in their youngest form. To study these infant storms, a group of NASA scientists spent a month flying off the northwestern coast of Africa aboard NASA’s research plane logging roughly 100 hours. The campaign encountered and measured one of the largest dust events the Airborne Laboratory capturing data with its instruments. Onboard remote sensing instruments captured detailed profiles of Saharan dust, wind speed and direction, temperature, moisture, and […]
Tag Archives: Hurricanes
Better hurricane forecasts from use of infrared satellite measurements of cloudy skies
Phys.org November 4, 2021 An international team of researchers (USA – University of Wisconsin, NCAR Boulder, UK, Japan, China) surveyed the best practices for the observation and use of satellite infrared sounder and imager measurements demonstrating significant improvement in the forecasting of high-impact weather events such as hurricanes and typhoons. They reviewed development of satellite infrared data assimilation by various practitioners and the solutions they have deployed to better use such data in forecasts. They found that use of these cloud-cleared radiances in data assimilation improves the forecasting of high-impact weather events such as tropical cyclones and is now being applied […]