SCIENTISTS GATHER DATA DURING FRANCES TO SAVE LIVES, PROPERT

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Sept. 7, 2004 — During the trek across the Atlantic of Hurricane Frances, NOAA collected specialized data that are required to support forecasting operations at the NOAA Hurricane Center in Miami, Fla., that go into the watches and warnings that help save lives and property, as well as the studies into hurricane track and intensity change.

The 2004 season’s hurricane flights are once again a multi-agency, multi-plane operation. This requires coordination of flight plans and aircraft use, and a balance between those flights requested by the NOAA Hurricane Center, and those requested for research experiment purposes by the NOAA Hurricane Research Division and NOAA Satellites and Information Service—each focus requiring a different flight pattern within the hurricane. This coordination requires careful planning with the NOAA Aircraft Operations Center, in Tampa, Fla., for aircraft capability and availability, flight crew requirements, and a constant readiness by NOAA and university research scientists who oversee various instruments onboard the aircraft.

“We can improve NOAA’s hurricane products by partnering with other offices and mount a significant field effort,” said Frank Marks, director of the NOAA Hurricane Research Division. “All of us work very hard to make this happen.”

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http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2004/s2316.htm