Cione - HFIP

Low altitude UAS observations in Hurricane
Edouard: Comparsions with output from
operational HWRF
Thanks to Ligia Bernardet (ESRL/CIRES/DTC) Evan Kalina (CU), Eric Uhlhorn (HRD)
and Jason Dunion for their significant contributions towards today’s talks. Also recognition goes
out to NOAA/OAR for the financial support under the Sandy Supplemental
Authorization of 2013 that helped make this work possible…
Joseph Cione
HFIP Annual Review
19 November 2014
First air-deployed UAS mission into a
hurricane (a major one at that)
When: 1432Z September 16th 2014
Where: Deployed into Major Hurricane Edouard’s eye (then eyewall)
Deployment aircraft: NOAA WP-3D Orion (42)
UAS flight duration: 28 minutes
Minimum Altitude: 896m
Maximum Wind Speed: 100kt @971m (in SW eyewall) Platform record!
2
Coyote UAS in Edouard’s eye…
and eyewall..
Visible and IR (1445Z Sept 16th)
Angle of Satellite image distorts co-location of Coyote in Edouard’s eye…After
losing communications via satellite and the P-3, @ ~1454Z the UAS climbs and tries- to get back into eye…Did it ever make it ?
3
Record duration Coyote UAS mission!
Thermodynamic and kinematic radial profile within the boundary
layer of Hurricane Edouard
When: 1507Z September 17th 2014
Where: Deployed along Hurricane Edouard boundary layer inflow channel
Deployment aircraft: NOAA WP-3D Orion (42)
UAS flight duration: 68 minutes (platform record!)
Minimum (controlled) Altitude: 400m
Maximum Wind Speed: 53kt @6m
16
NOAA 42
SEPT 17 2014
EDOUARD
MODIS
1640Z
1250 nm
1000 nm
1420Z
750 nm
1341Z
1638Z
1617Z
1316Z
500 nm
1259Z
250 nm
T/O: 1110Z
LAND: 1919Z
Coyote Launch/Splash
17
Center Fix
Total expendables: 17 sondes (1 bad) and 8 BTs
Sonde
Sonde + BT
Summary: UAS Boundary layer comparisons
with HWRF
• Eye/Eyewall Coyote UAS mission (9/16/14 14Z)
– HWRF Flight level RH looks reasonable but model Ta/Td ~2C higher than
observations from UAS
– (From past buoy work) Ta/Td near the surface in they eye also looks too high by ~2C
warm (28C/27C respectively)
– Low level RH seems reasonable in the eye (low 90%) but RH is definitely much too
low outside the eye especially within the eyewall (low 80%)…
» Should be 95-98%...Ta ~1C too high (26C), Td 1-2C too low (22C)
• Inflow Coyote UAS mission (9/17/14 15Z)
– Unlike the Coyote eye mission, HWRF Ta and Td at flight level (750m) are -lower- by
1-2C relative to UAS observations
– Dynamic fields relative to observations look reasonable (horizontal pressure
gradient and flight level winds)
– Thermodynamically the comparisons aren’t as favorable. At low levels in the model,
Ta is too warm and Td is too dry…
» Net result is a much more –unstable- HWRF boundary layer in the inflow
transect analyzed. Obs. are about 2x more stable.(~3C/750m vs ~6C/750m)
– Similar to eye/eyewall mission results, RH at the surface in HWRF is much too low
(80% range). This is a combination of Ta too high (~+1C) and Td too low (~-1C).
– 140kt V10 at t=0 ? (V10 at the time of initialilization (18z on the 17th) was ~80kts)