NOAA Hurricane Hunter Twin Otter Monitoring Seal Populations in Alaska

Direct link to August 31st post by NOAA Hurricane Hunters on Facebook

I hope that you can see the post I embedded from NOAA Hurricane Hunters on Facebook with photos of their Twin Otter, NOAA 46, flying in Alaska serveying seal populations in Alaska to see the seal's impact on local fish as well as gaining more understanding of seal populations in Alasaka. I applaud these flights and am glad to see that NOAA Hurricane Hunter aircraft do more than tracking hurricanes. I am sure that if this aircraft was needed to monitor hurricanes that it would be rerouted.

About How Airplanes are used for Atmospheric River Recon

On Friday, January 13th I made a reference to how the U.S. Air Force is helping to forecast atmospheric river events but I had no video to share. Today I have a YouTube video to share as well as a good New York Times article that I am gifting to you. If this works, this article should be available without a paywall for ten days, through January 25th. The New York Times article, dated January 13th is called "Getting Inside California's Wild Weather 8 Miles over the Pacific," it is a very good read about the Atmospheric River (AR) Recon Program out of the Scripps Institute for Oceanography at the University of California in San Diego. A New York Times reporter and a photographer went along on a Gulfstream jet on an AR Recon Mission.The AR Recon Program works in partnership with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the U.S. Air Force who supply the aviation resources. This excerpt from the NY Times article describes the importance of the AR Recon Program:

Atmospheric rivers have caused weeks of flooding, power outages and evacuations up and down California and killed at least 19 people. But the devastation would almost certainly be even greater were it not for the weather forecasts that roll in before each storm. Emergency responders, dam operators and farmers now have piles of rapidly updated information at their fingertips about where these storms are headed, how soon they might arrive, and how much rain and snow they could bring when they get there.

Assembling those predictions still begins, however, by getting close to the action.  …

A program called Atmospheric River Reconnaissance, or AR Recon, is trying to plug this data void. It is led by scientists at the Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes, part of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego.

AR Recon is partly a research initiative, but since 2019 it has also been part of the federal government’s winter meteorological operations, with support from the Air Force and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. This winter, AR Recon started flying missions earlier than ever, in November, to sample more of the early-season storms that have caused devastating flooding on the Pacific Coast in recent years.

The January 13th video that I am embedding below is from KBPS Public Media. In this two minute video you will hear about what atmospheric area and a little about the aviation resources used in Scripp's AR Recon Program.

Direct link the January 13th video from KPBS Public Media on YouTube

It is airborne snow survey season again

In November 2014 I was spending some time in southern California when a lake effect snow storm brought five to seven feet of snow to portions of the Buffallo New York region. It was through that lake effect snow storm that I first learned of the Airborne Snow Survey Program of NOAA’s National Operational Hydrologic Remote Sensing Center (NOHRSC).

As I understand it, airborne snow surveys are done to measure the amount of water contained in a snow packTwo  aircraft are used, a Jet Prop Commander and a Rockwell Aero Commander (NOAA has two of these aircraft). 

According to the NOHRSC: 

The National Operational Hydrologic Remote Sensing Center (NOHRSC) has developed, and currently maintains, an operational Airborne Gamma Radiation Snow Survey Program to make airborne Snow Water Equivalent (SWE) and soil moisture measurements. Airborne SWE measurements are used by NWS Weather Forecast Offices (WFO) and NWS River Forecast Centers (RFC) when issuing river and flood forecasts, water supply forecasts, and spring flood outlooks (obtained from http://www.nohrsc.noaa.gov/snowsurvey/ on February 1, 2016)

I first wrote about NOAA’s airborne snow survey program on November 24, 2014 with a follow-up article on February 9, 2015

Perhaps because of the two feet of snow we had in my part of New Jersey on January 23rd, I found myself thinking about the 2015-2016 Airborne Snow Season Survey, so I decided to write this article. If you are interested in historical snow surveys, the NOHRSC has a landing page with links to information on prior year's snow surveys. 

Aerial Snow Surveys - NWS NOHRSC - Winter 2015 (#2)

A few days after the lake-effect snow storm that ocurred the week before Thanksgiving 2014 I first learned about aerial snow surveys. These aerial snow surveys are overseen by the National Weather Service's National Operational Hydrologic Remote Sensing Center  (NOHRSC).I wrote about the aerial snow surveys in an article I posted on November 24, 2014. I am still learning about the science of these snow surveys, which fascinates me. I am still learning, so I am not exactly in the postion to speak to the science.

But I am interested in what snow NOHRSC has done this winter. As I have interests in New England where the southern areas have seen significant amounts of snow this winter, I went to the NOHRSC snow survey page and saw a list of snow surveys conducted to date during the 2014-2015 winter. There are links for snow surveys done to date. I should note that for those of you who might be arriving at this article after this winter is over, I am not certain how long the 2014-2015 snow survey information is available. 

You might see snow surveys done in or near your State or other States that are of interest. I am going to use the example of aerial snow surveys done in New England and portions of New York (for the Northeast River Forecast Center (NERFC). So I click on the link for NERFC Snow Survey, and land on the 2015 NERFC Snow Survey Page. The aircraft fly certain pre-determined flight lines, you may see the flight lines for New England and portions of New York on this map. There is other information on this page which is used in determing snow water equivalent measurements (a measurement of the amount of water in the snow if the snow is completely melted, see the NOHRSC glossary on the NOHRSC help page. I am interested in aerial photography and am also interested in the flight lines flown on the survey. So, I am going to focus here on the digital aerial photographs taken on these flights. I found the photos fun to look at and I thought that some of you might enjoy these photos.

I followed a link for aerial survey photos that I found on the top left corner of the 2015 NERFC Snow Survey Page  where I landed on a page of several photos taken on the NERFC Snow Survey (#11). I was interested in exactly where these photos were taken, and I was not disappointed. NOHRSC very nicely included a kmz file containing the photos with the esact location where the photo is taken that I could download and read in Google Earth.  Photos are taken from 500 to 1,000 feet above ground level.

I focused here on New England and portions of New York. As I write this, portions of Ohio and Pennsylvania, Montana, Wisconsin and Michigan have been surveyed in NOHRSC's snow survey program. And as the winter goes on, other states will be surveyed as well. If I am in a position to write a little more about the science of the snow surveys, I'll write a follow-up article or two. 

NOAA airplanes for snow surveys in the Buffalo

Like many of us, I have been following last week’s lake effect snow that brought 5 to 7 feet of snow to some places near Buffalo NY. Now the temperatures are warmer in Buffalo leading to snow melt and flood warnings. See a photo gallery from the Buffalo News of images from the snow storm and another photo gallery of the transition from snow to flooding, again from the Buffalo News. A report from CNN on the flood warnings in Buffalo may be found here.

I was quite interested to read a post that the US National Weather Service Northeast River Forecast Center (NERFC) posted on their Facebook wall yesterday — go here to read the post about how U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) pilots did an airborne survey of snow in the Buffalo area to determine snow water equivalent, or how much water is contained in the snow. I followed the links in the NERFC wall post to learn about the aircraft that are used and a little about the snow survey. The snow survey is done by NOAA’s National Operational Hydrologic Remote Sensing Center’s (NOHRSC) Airborne Snow Survey Program.

Two aircraft are used, one is Jet Prop Commander, and you may read more about this aircraft and the equipment she carries from these two NOAA webpages here and here. In addition to learning about this aircraft and her equipment, you will learn a little about snow surveys are done.

The second aircraft used for snow surveys is one of NOAA’s Rockwell Aero Commanders (they have two). To learn more about the Rockwell Aero Commander and how she (N51RF) is used for snow surveys, go to this webpage on the NOHRSC website. You will also learn about the type of missions flown by NOAA’s second Rockwell Aero Commander (N47RF) used as a multi-purpose survey platform.

I'd like to thank my friends at the US National Weather Service Mid-Atlantic River Forecast Center for taking the time to chat with me this afternoon as I was preparing to write this article. I hope to write a little more about how the NOHRSC uses NOAA aircraft for snow surveys in a later post after I have had a chance to do some more research and reading on the NOHRSC website. In the meantime, I wanted to share with you what I have learned in the last 24 hours.

Before I close, I would be remiss not to acknowledge NOAA's two Lockheed WP-3D Orions that are used for a variety of weather related research, including hurricane research and reconnaissance during hurricane season.

I will resume my series on Mt. Wilson Observatory on Wednesday, Nov. 26.

Stay safe out there everyone.