Scientists study birth of hurricanes to improve forecasting
(21 Jul 2005) APTN Havana, Cuba - 8 July 2005 APTN - APTN Clients Only 1. Various of Hurricane Dennis blowing trees and rooves APTN Playa del Carmen, Mexico - 18 July 2005 2. Various people walking through flooded streets after Hurricane Emily APTN San Jose, Costa Rica - 7 July 2005 3. Wide view of NASA hangar at Costa Rica airport 4. Wide view of men working on plane 5. Mid view of men working on plane 6. Close up of men working on engine part 7. Mid view of man at computer 8. Pan left to inside of plane attachment NASA TV 9. Animation of plane flying over hurricane APTN San Jose, Costa Rica - 7 July 2005 10. SOUNDBITE (English) Anthony Guillory, Principal Investigator for Aerosonde Aircraft "What we are doing..." APTN San Jose, Costa Rica - 7 July 2005 11. Various of TCSP press conference 12. SOUNDBITE (English) Ramesh Kakar, TCSP Program Manager "We have developed..." NASA TV 13. Animation of hurricanes APTN San Jose, Costa Rica - 7 July 2005 14. Mid view of man working on machine 15. Close up man working 16. Mid view/tilt down of men cleaning tires 17. Close up of men cleaning tires 18. SOUNDBTIE (English) Robbie Hood, Mission Scientist "We want to really..." APTN Havana, Cuba - 8 July 2005 19. Various of Hurricane Dennis blowing trees SUGGESTED LEAD-IN: A team of scientists is conducting a month-long study in Costa Rica into one of the world's most dangerous weather formations - the hurricane. The Tropical Cloud Systems and Processes Mission (TCSP), conducted by NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), is monitoring oceanic thunderstorms to try and find out why some thunderstorms develop into tropical cyclones and some do not. VOICE-OVER: The destructive power of hurricanes and the havoc they wreak is well documented. Less is known about what causes them. This month (July) a group of researchers from NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration - or NOAA for short - are in Costa Rica hoping to gain a better understanding of why hurricanes form. The team is monitoring oceanic thunderstorms to study why some develop into tropical cyclones and some do not. The data they gather could help improve weather forecasting and lead to better hurricane warning systems. From Juan Santa Maria Airport in San Jose, they are flying missions to collect temperature, humidity, precipitation, and wind information. SOUNDBITE (English) "What we are doing is we are flying horizontally on the aircraft instead of flying in the balloon vertically. In doing that, we are trying to look at the interaction between the coastal zone of Costa Rica and off shore of Costa Rica and the Pacific. We are also looking at sea surface measurers using infrared measurements. The sea surface temperatures are very important for hurricane genesis. We are tying to use that data in conjunction with other data to kind of monitor on a regular basis the long term affects or potential ramifications for genesis." SUPERCAPTION: Anthony Guillory, Principal Investigator for Aerosonde Aircraft The data allows the team to study "cyclogenesis" - the creation of the ideal birthing conditions for tropical storms and hurricanes. SOUNDBITE (English) "We have developed a good understanding of how mature hurricanes behave. We are concentrating in this experiment in trying to understand what the early stages of a tropical storm or cyclone look like. Our models give us many false positives in other words, our models are predicting at this point more often that a hurricane is forming than is true." Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: / ap_archive Facebook: / aparchives Instagram: / apnews You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...
