Scientists are planning to send more drones flying into hurricanes that develop during the upcoming Atlantic storm season.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration first launched the 13-pound winged drones into Hurricane Edouard in September. This year, the unmanned aircraft have more sophisticated sensors that will allow them to fly farther from the “hurricane hunter” aircraft that relay storm data to the National Hurricane Center in Miami.
A spokeswoman for NOAA’s Hurricane Research Division told the Floirda Sun Sentinel that one possible flight plan for the “Coyote” drones this year would be to find out how far the strongest winds stretch from a hurricane’s eye.
The drones can fly into the lowest levels of a hurricane where larger aircraft can’t go to measure barometric pressure, temperature and wind speeds.
Topics Catastrophe Natural Disasters Aviation Hurricane Aerospace
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