U researchers are on a mission to understand why all thunderstorms born in Africa don’t lead to hurricanes.
The operation could improve the understanding of the mechanics of tropical disturbances and their evolution into hurricanes, said Jon Zawislak, a first-year graduate student in meteorology.
“The thunderstorms are generated by the strong temperature contrast between the Sahara Desert and the cooler ocean south of west Africa. But only 10 to 20 percent of these grow into hurricanes,” said Ed Zipster, U meteorology professor and the chief scientist of NASA’s African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analysis project (NAMMA).
To conduct the analysis, the research team is using a conventional four-engine jet plane adapted to carry a precipitation radar and equipment for measuring wind, temperature and moisture between the aircraft and the ocean surface. The jet plane also allows researchers to utilize laser profilers that can sense the vertical distribution of water vapor and dust particles, cloud particle size distributions and liquid and ice water content.
NAMMA is located in Cape Verde, an island 350 miles from Senegal.
“We chose this place because many of the most destructive hurricanes that hit the United States develop and intensify from the common weak disturbances that pass the Cape Verde Islands throughout the hurricane season,” Zipster said.
The research started on Aug. 14 and goes until mid-September.
“The experiment has been an outstanding educational experience-it’s one thing to read about these phenomena in journal articles and textbooks, but it is even greater when you get to experience them firsthand,” Zawislak said.
Kim Peterson