SHOUTING AT STORMS: NOAA EVALUATES GLOBAL HAWK'S STORM-WATCHING CAPABILITY

摘要

A high-flying, long-endurance drone that once spied for the U.S. Air Force is in the final phases of a tryout for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration as a storm chaser. So far, the judges are impressed. The aircraft - the Global Hawk, and one of the first ones built - has successfully flown observational patterns directly above five Atlantic hurricanes over the past two years, dropping data-gathering canisters called sondes and taking atmospheric readings with sensors. The information it has provided has helped to guide emergency forecasts from the National Weather Service in Miami.