Sensing Hazards with Operational Unmanned Technology

Abstract

W hile significant progress has been made in forecasting highimpact weather like tropical cyclones, skill remains limited. High-altitude, long-endurance (HALE) unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) like NASA's Global Hawk may complement and enhance the observations that could improve these forecasts. While the capabilities of the Global Hawk have been successfully demonstrated for research, the potential impacts of its observations on operational weather forecasting need to be established. HALE UAS could, for example, temporarily supplement a satellite observation gap, such as was feared might occur as the Suomi National Polar-Orbiting Partnership (Suomi NPP) awaited the deployment of its successor, Joint Polar Satellite System-1 (JPSS-1). To mitigate such risks, NOAA initiated the Sensing Hazards with Operational Unmanned Technology (SHOUT) project to demonstrate and test a prototype UAS in 2015-16. With no satellite data gap occurring, the project ultimately did