Highlights
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Flying into the Eye of the Storm
Last Fall, NRC-IAR’s Convair 580, a twin-engine turboprop aircraft that has been extensively modified for research operations, flew into the eye of Hurricane Juan, not once, but several times as Juan battered the coast of Nova Scotia. State-of-the-art instruments recorded remote and in-situ measurements of principal cloud and environmental parameters, including wind, cloud structure and composition, temperature, humidity, and atmospheric pressure. Ten days earlier, the aircraft made a flight through Hurricane Isabel as it moved over Lake Ontario, the team’s first experience studying an over-land hurricane.
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| NRC's Convair 580 airplane |
Why undertake such dangerous missions? Improving our understanding of what goes on in these types of cloud structures, and how it applies to aircraft performance helps make flying safer. It also helps meteorologists improve weather forecasting techniques, understand weather patterns and provide better severe weather warnings. Next hurricane season, NRC-IAR’s Convair will once again pierce the heart of tropical storms assailing Canada to seek out more answers about what drives one of nature’s most violent manifestations.
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