Hurricane Forecasters Study Lightning Strikes
A new study supported by NASA and the U.S. Office of Naval Research has improved the ability of hurricane forecasters to predict the strength of an approaching storm. Using sensors on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s P-3 aircraft, and the enhanced sensing capacity of the Pacific Lightning Detection Network, funded in part by NASA, as well as data from NASA’s Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission satellite’s microwave radiometers, researchers were able to study data from hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The new sensors have enabled scientists to more closely examine the connection between lightning outbreaks in the eyewall of a hurricane and the intensity of the storm.
The eyewall of a hurricane is the inner region surrounding the “eye” of the storm where the heaviest rainfall and the most intense winds are located. Monitoring the intensity of lightning activity near the eye will enable forecasters to predict when the storm will experience its highest intensity. Latent heat released when water vapor condenses into cloud droplets powers the storm by creating updrafts of air traveling upwards in the cloud, and, if the updrafts are sufficiently strong, they create lightning. The close relationship between the rate of lightning strikes, the amount of rain and the amount of latent heat released in the eyewall enable computer models to predict the intensity and path of a hurricane. Since lightning is so closely related to the amount of heat released in ht eyewall, it is important for research to study how lightning develops in an ocean storm.
The new sensors being used to monitor the hurricanes are able to detect lightning over the ocean thousands of miles away, whereas, prior to the development of this technology, there were few methods for observing areas over the open sea where storms typically develop.
The Pacific Lightning Detection Network, which provided the cutting-edge, long range sensors used in the study, encompasses four sensors located in the area around the central northern Pacific Ocean, and plans are in place to increase the network with the addition of eight more sites by the end of 2008. The North American Lightning Detection Network, of which the Pacific Lightning Detection Network is a part, includes almost 200 sensors which monitor lightning over the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans as well as the Gulf of Mexico.
While more research is needed, this study has provided vital information about the dynamics of the planet’s most powerful storms, information which may result in the saving of many lives through improved forecasting of hurricanes.
This entry was posted on Saturday, September 22nd, 2007 at 12:22 pm and is filed under Public Relations. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
