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Weather Drone
A weather drone, or weather-sensing uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV), is a remotely piloted aircraft weighing less than 25 kg and carrying sensors that collect thermodynamic and kinematic data from the mid and lower atmosphere (e.g. up to 6 km). Weather drones are not yet used to support National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHS) due to ongoing negotiations on UAVs' access to airspace and compliance with airspace regulations and technological development needed to meet the World Meteorological Organization's requirements. Mostly, weather drones are deployed to support scientific research missions and industry-specific operations. History Early proposals The first recorded UAV for measuring atmospheric parameters was in 1970, when a "small radio-controlled aircraft as usedas a measuring platform" for sharing meteorological measurement results. The study was supported by the Air Force Cambridge Research Laboratory and NASA, Wallops Station. The authors ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Unmanned Aerial Vehicle
An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) or unmanned aircraft system (UAS), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft with no human pilot, crew, or passengers onboard, but rather is controlled remotely or is autonomous.De Gruyter Handbook of Drone Warfare; 2024. e-ISBN (PDF) 978-3-11-074203-9.H. Pan; M. Zahmatkesh; F. Rekabi-Bana; F. Arvin; J. HuT-STAR: Time-Optimal Swarm Trajectory Planning for Quadrotor Unmanned Aerial Vehicles IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems, 2025. UAVs were originally developed through the twentieth century for military missions too "dull, dirty or dangerous" for humans, and by the twenty-first, they had become essential assets to most militaries. As control technologies improved and costs fell, their use expanded to many non-military applications. These include aerial photography, area coverage,F. Rekabi-Bana; Hu, J.; T. Krajník; Arvin, F.,Unified Robust Path Planning and Optimal Trajectory Generation for Efficient 3D Area Coverage of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mesonet
In meteorology and climatology, a mesonet, portmanteau of mesoscale network, is a network of automated weather and, often also including environmental monitoring stations, designed to observe mesoscale meteorological phenomena and/or microclimates. Dry lines, squall lines, and sea breezes are examples of phenomena observed by mesonets. Due to the space and time scales associated with mesoscale phenomena and microclimates, weather stations comprising a mesonet are spaced closer together and report more frequently than synoptic scale observing networks, such as the WMO Global Observing System (GOS) and US ASOS. The term mesonet refers to the collective group of these weather stations, which are usually owned and operated by a common entity. Mesonets generally record in situ surface weather observations but some involve other observation platforms, particularly vertical profiles of the planetary boundary layer (PBL). Other environmental parameters may include insolation and vario ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wind Resistance
In fluid dynamics, drag, sometimes referred to as fluid resistance, is a force acting opposite to the direction of motion of any object moving with respect to a surrounding fluid. This can exist between two fluid layers, two solid surfaces, or between a fluid and a solid surface. Drag forces tend to decrease fluid velocity relative to the solid object in the fluid's path. Unlike other resistive forces, drag force depends on velocity. Drag force is proportional to the relative velocity for low-speed flow and is proportional to the velocity squared for high-speed flow. This distinction between low and high-speed flow is measured by the Reynolds number. Drag is instantaneously related to vorticity dynamics through the Josephson-Anderson relation. Examples Examples of drag include: * Net aerodynamic or hydrodynamic force: Drag acting opposite to the direction of movement of a solid object such as cars, aircraft, and boat hulls. * Viscous drag of fluid in a pipe: Drag force on the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Atmospheric Icing
Atmospheric icing occurs in the atmosphere when water droplets suspended in air freeze on objects they come in contact with. It is not the same as freezing rain, which is caused directly by precipitation. Atmospheric icing occurs on aircraft, towers, wind turbines, boats, oil rigs, and trees. Unmanned aircraft are particularly sensitive to icing. In cold climates, particularly those at higher elevations, atmospheric icing is common in winter as elevated terrain interacts with supercooled clouds that can cause icing on contact. Ice loads are a major cause of catastrophic failures of overhead electrical power lines, as power lines can break under the weight of accumulated ice. Therefore, estimation of maximum potential ice load is crucial in the structural design of power line systems to withstand ice loads, and this can be done with numerical icing models and examples that include meteorological data. Formation Water does not always freeze at . Water that persists in liqui ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Atmospheric Boundary Layer
In meteorology, the planetary boundary layer (PBL), also known as the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) or peplosphere, is the lowest part of the atmosphere and its behaviour is directly influenced by its contact with a planetary surface. On Earth it usually responds to changes in surface radiative forcing in an hour or less. In this layer physical quantities such as flow velocity, temperature, and moisture display rapid fluctuations (turbulence) and vertical mixing is strong. Above the PBL is the "free atmosphere", where the wind is approximately geostrophic (parallel to the isobars), while within the PBL the wind is affected by surface drag and turns across the isobars (see Ekman layer for more detail). Cause of surface wind gradient Typically, due to aerodynamic drag, there is a wind gradient in the wind flow ~100 meters above the Earth's surface—the surface layer of the planetary boundary layer. Wind speed increases with increasing height above the ground, starting ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Météo-France
Météo-France is the official French meteorological administration, also offering services to Andorra and Monaco. It has the powers of the state and can exercise them in relation to meteorology. Météo-France is in charge of observing, studying, and forecasting weather and monitoring snowpack. The organization also issues weather warnings for the Metropole and the overseas territories. Météo-France is also in charge of recording and predicting the climate. Organisation The organisation was established by decree in June 1993 and is a department of the Ministry of Transportation. It is headquartered in Paris but many domestic operations have been decentralised to Toulouse. Its budget of around €300 million is funded by state grants, aeronautic royalties and sale of commercial services. Météo-France has a particularly strong international presence, and is the French representative at the World Meteorological Organization. The organisation is a leading member of EUM ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rotary-wing
A rotary-wing aircraft, rotorwing aircraft or rotorcraft is a heavier-than-air aircraft with rotor wing, rotary wings that spin around a vertical mast to generate lift (force), lift. Part 1 (Definitions and Abbreviations) of Subchapter A of Chapter I of Title 14 of the U. S. Code of Federal Regulations states that rotorcraft "means a heavier-than-air aircraft that depends principally for its support in flight on the lift generated by one or more rotors." The assembly of several rotor blades mounted on a single mast is referred to as a helicopter rotor, rotor. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) defines a rotorcraft as "supported in flight by the reactions of the air on one or more rotors". Rotorcraft generally include aircraft where one or more rotors provide lift throughout the entire flight, such as helicopters, gyroplanes, autogyros, and gyrodynes Compound rotorcraft augment the rotor with additional thrust engines, propellers, or static lifting surfaces. Some ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Swiss Museum Of Transport
The Swiss Museum of Transport or ''Verkehrshaus der Schweiz'' (literally "Transportation House of Switzerland") in Lucerne opened in July 1959 and exhibits all forms of transport including trains, automobiles, ships and aircraft as well as communication technology. It is Switzerland's most popular museum. The museum also maintains a large collection of work by Hans Erni, a local painter and sculptor. There are several other attractions in the museum besides the collection, including a planetarium, a large-format cinema and a 1:20,000 scale aerial photograph of Switzerland. History The museum traces its history to 1897, when the first attempts at creating a museum of railway equipment were made. Following a national exhibition in 1914, the Swiss Railway Museum was founded by Swiss Federal Railways in 1918 in Zurich. The concept eventually grew to encompass all transportation and, in 1942, the Swiss Museum of Transport association was established. Swiss Federal Railways was joi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Meteomatics
Meteomatics AG is a private Swiss weather technology company headquartered in St. Gallen. Meteomatics was founded by German mathematician Dr. Martin Fengler in 2012. Meteomatics manufactures weather drones that fly up to 6 km to collect data from the mid and low levels of the atmosphere. The company also provides meteorological consulting services and forecast and historical weather data through an API. In 2022, Meteomatics launched EURO1k, a weather model that covers Europe with a resolution of 1 km. Technology Meteodrones Meteomatics started developing Meteodrones, which are weather drones, in 2013. Meteodrones are small flying weather stations capable of gathering pressure, temperature, humidity, wind direction, and wind speed in the lower 6 km of the atmosphere. Whilst remotely sensed data from satellites, radar and ceilometers are available for this altitude range, in situ observations are considered the most reliable by meteorologists. Operational chal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eye (cyclone)
The eye is a region of mostly calm weather at the center of a tropical cyclone. The eye of a storm is a roughly circular area, typically in diameter. It is surrounded by the eyewall, a ring of towering thunderstorms where the most severe weather and highest winds of the cyclone occur. The cyclone's lowest barometric pressure occurs in the eye and can be as much as 15 percent lower than the pressure outside the storm. In strong tropical cyclones, the eye is characterized by light winds and clear skies, surrounded on all sides by a towering, symmetric eyewall. In weaker tropical cyclones, the eye is less well defined and can be covered by the central dense overcast, an area of high, thick clouds that show up brightly on satellite imagery. Weaker or disorganized storms may also feature an eyewall that does not completely encircle the eye or have an eye that features heavy rain. In all storms, however, the eye is where the barometer reading is lowest. Structure A typical tropi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fixed-wing Aircraft
A fixed-wing aircraft is a heavier-than-air aircraft, such as an airplane, which is capable of flight using aerodynamic lift. Fixed-wing aircraft are distinct from rotary-wing aircraft (in which a rotor mounted on a spinning shaft generates lift), and ornithopters (in which the wings oscillate to generate lift). The wings of a fixed-wing aircraft are not necessarily rigid; kites, hang gliders, variable-sweep wing aircraft, and airplanes that use wing morphing are all classified as fixed wing. Gliding fixed-wing aircraft, including free-flying gliders and tethered kites, can use moving air to gain altitude. Powered fixed-wing aircraft (airplanes) that gain forward thrust from an engine include powered paragliders, powered hang gliders and ground effect vehicles. Most fixed-wing aircraft are operated by a pilot, but some are unmanned or controlled remotely or are completely autonomous (no remote pilot). History Kites Kites were used approximately 2,800 years ago ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hurricane Ian
Hurricane Ian was a devastating tropical cyclone which was the third costliest natural disaster, weather disaster on record worldwide. It was also the deadliest hurricane to strike the state of Florida since the 1935 Labor Day hurricane, and the strongest hurricane to make landfall in Florida since Hurricane Michael, Michael in 2018. Ian caused widespread damage across western Cuba, Florida, and the Carolinas. Ian was the ninth Tropical cyclone naming, named storm, fourth hurricane, and second major hurricane of the 2022 Atlantic hurricane season, and was the first Category 5 hurricane in the Atlantic since Hurricane Lorenzo (2019), Lorenzo in 2019 Atlantic hurricane season, 2019. Ian originated from a tropical wave that moved off the coast of West Africa and across the central tropical Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic towards the Windward Islands. The wave moved into the Caribbean Sea on September 21 bringing heavy rain and gusty winds to Trinidad and Tobago, the ABC island ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
