WC-130J Hercules of the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron

Weather reconnaissance is the acquisition of weather data used for research and planning. Typically the term reconnaissance refers to observing weather from the air, as opposed to the ground.

Methods

Aircraft

Helicopters A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attribu ...

are not built to withstand the severe turbulence encountered in hurricane rainbands and eye walls. One reason is that a helicopter receives all of its lift from its rotating blades, and they are most likely to break off in hurricane conditions. The

Lockheed C-130 The Lockheed C-130 Hercules is an American four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft designed and built by Lockheed (now Lockheed Martin). Capable of using unprepared runways for takeoffs and landings, the C-130 was originally design ...

Hercules is used as a weather reconnaissance aircraft, with 5 different versions being used. The current version is the Lockheed C-130J. The Lockheed WC-130J aircraft is a venerable aircraft for weather reconnaissance. It flies directly into the hurricane, typically penetrating the hurricane's eye several times per mission at altitudes between and . The 53rd WRS Hurricane Hunters operate ten WC-130J aircraft for weather reconnaissance. The

WP-3D Orion The Lockheed WP-3D Orion is a highly modified P-3 Orion used by the Aircraft Operations Center division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Only two of these aircraft exist, each incorporating numerous features for t ...

aircraft flown by the

NOAA Hurricane Hunters The NOAA Hurricane Hunters are a group of aircraft used for hurricane reconnaissance by the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). They fly through hurricanes to help forecasters and scientists gather operational an ...

are heavily instrumented flying laboratories specifically modified to take atmospheric and radar measurements within tropical cyclones and winter storms. The NOAA

Gulfstream IV The Gulfstream IV (or G-IV or GIV) and derivatives are a family of twinjet aircraft, mainly for private or business use. They were designed and built by Gulfstream Aerospace, a General Dynamics company based in Savannah, Georgia, United Stat ...

high altitude jet conducts hurricane surveillance flying upwards of each flight to document upper and lower level winds that affect the movement of tropical cyclones. The hurricane models (computer models predicting hurricane tracks and intensity) mainly utilize NOAA G-IV dropwindsonde data that is collected both day and night in storms affecting the United States. Other aircraft have been used to investigate hurricanes, including an instrumented

Lockheed U-2 The Lockheed U-2, nicknamed "''Dragon Lady''", is an American single- jet engine, high altitude reconnaissance aircraft operated by the United States Air Force (USAF) and previously flown by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). It provides d ...

that was flown in Hurricane Ginny during the

1963 Atlantic hurricane season The 1963 Atlantic hurricane season featured one of the deadliest tropical cyclones on record in the Atlantic basin: Hurricane Flora. The season officially began on June 15, and lasted until November 15. These dates conventionally del ...

. Past aircraft used were the

A-20 Havoc The Douglas A-20 Havoc (company designation DB-7) is an American medium bomber, attack aircraft, night intruder, night fighter, and reconnaissance aircraft of World War II. Designed to meet an Army Air Corps requirement for a bomber, it was o ...

, 1944;

B-24 The Consolidated B-24 Liberator is an American heavy bomber, designed by Consolidated Aircraft of San Diego, California. It was known within the company as the Model 32, and some initial production aircraft were laid down as export models ...

, 1944–1945;

B-17 The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is a four-engined heavy bomber developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). Relatively fast and high-flying for a bomber of its era, the B-17 was used primarily in the European Theater ...

, 1945–1947;

B-25 The North American B-25 Mitchell is an American medium bomber that was introduced in 1941 and named in honor of Major General William "Billy" Mitchell, a pioneer of U.S. military aviation. Used by many Allied air forces, the B-25 served in ...

, 1946–1947;

B-29 The Boeing B-29 Superfortress is an American four-engined propeller-driven heavy bomber, designed by Boeing and flown primarily by the United States during World War II and the Korean War. Named in allusion to its predecessor, the B-17 Fl ...

, 1946–1947. W

, 1951–1956; W B-50, 1956–1963; W

B-47 The Boeing B-47 Stratojet (Boeing company designation Model 450) is a retired American long-range, six-engined, turbojet-powered strategic bomber designed to fly at high subsonic speed and at high altitude to avoid enemy interceptor aircraft. ...

, 1963–1969; W

C-121 The Lockheed C-121 Constellation is a military transport version of the Lockheed Constellation. A total of 332 aircraft were constructed for both the United States Air Force and United States Navy for various purposes. Numerous airborne early wa ...

N 1954-1973; WC-130A,B,E,H, 1965-2005.

Watercraft

Watercraft deployed for use as

weather ship A weather ship, or ocean station vessel, was a ship stationed in the ocean for surface and upper air meteorological observations for use in weather forecasting. They were primarily located in the north Atlantic and north Pacific oceans, reportin ...

s have fallen out of favor due to their high operating cost. Unmanned

weather buoy Weather buoys are instruments which collect weather and ocean data within the world's oceans, as well as aid during emergency response to chemical spills, legal proceedings, and engineering design. Moored buoys have been in use since 1951, wh ...

s replaced weather ships when they became prohibitively expensive. Since the 1970s, their role has been largely superseded by weather buoys by design. Across the northern Atlantic, the number of weather ships dwindled over the years. The original nine ships in the region had fallen to eight by the 1970s. In 1974, the Coast Guard announced plans to terminate the United States stations, and, in 1977, the last United States weather ship was replaced by a newly developed weather buoy. By 1983, data was still being collected by ships "M" ("Mike"), "R" ("Romeo"), "C" ("Charlie"), and L ("Lima"), Because of high operating costs and budget issues, weather ship "R" was recalled from the

Bay of Biscay The Bay of Biscay (), known in Spain as the Gulf of Biscay ( es, Golfo de Vizcaya, eu, Bizkaiko Golkoa), and in France and some border regions as the Gulf of Gascony (french: Golfe de Gascogne, oc, Golf de Gasconha, br, Pleg-mor Gwaskogn), ...

before the deployment of a weather buoy for the region. This recall was blamed for the minimal warning given in advance of the Great Storm of 1987. The last weather ship was ''Polarfront'', known as weather station "M" at 66°N, 02°E, run by the Norwegian Meteorological Institute. ''Polarfront' was put out of operation 1 January 2010. Despite the loss of designated weather ships, weather observations from ships continue from a fleet of voluntary merchant vessels in routine commercial operation, which have increased in number over the decades.''

Applications

Spaceflight planning

Images from satellites provided a resource for forecasting weather for NASA

Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program n ...

launches and landings. Meteorologists analyze images to predict regions of cloud formation and dissipation. Special attention is paid to low clouds and

convective Convection is single or multiphase fluid flow that occurs spontaneously due to the combined effects of material property heterogeneity and body forces on a fluid, most commonly density and gravity (see buoyancy). When the cause of the ...

cloud particularly

cumulonimbus incus A cumulonimbus incus (Latin ''incus'', " anvil"), also known as an anvil cloud, is a cumulonimbus cloud which has reached the level of stratospheric stability and has formed the characteristic flat, anvil-top shape. It signifies the thunderst ...

clouds. Satellite imagery is used to ascertain cloud-top temperatures to analyze the potential for lightning. Certain types of imagery are valued for their ability to view fog and low clouds at night. Satellite imagery in the long term can help enhance the shuttle flight landing procedure. Prior to shuttle launches or landings, pilots fly aircraft that provide cloud, wind, turbulence, visibility, and precipitation information. Aircraft are flown along the future flight path of the shuttle and observations are noted. This complements radar and satellite data and only provides information that is useful for short-term (up to four hours before launch or landing) but not long-term forecasting. Aerial reconnaissance often provides a more accurate assessment of weather conditions than radar or satellite imagery. Weather reconnaissance is also provided by weather balloons.

References