A pilot’s initiative to track the 1935 Labor Day Hurricane that decimated the Florida Keys marked the beginning of the era of today’s legendary hurricane hunters. Today the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) operates a small fleet of aircraft that fly into the heart of violent hurricanes, experiencing winds that can send their planes plummeting hundreds of feet in only a few seconds.
Scientists at the University of Miami Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies (CIMAS) form the backbone of those missions, deploying sophisticated weather monitoring devices called dropsondes and measure temperature, pressure, humidity, and wind speed as they fall from the aircraft to the surface.
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For more, visit: https://news.miami.edu/stories/2024/08/as-the-season-ramps-up-hurricane-hunters-face-a-grueling-pace.html
