| http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/07/29/2337351/cuts-could-limit-hurricane-research.html#ixzz1TXkefvsa Budget cuts approved by a powerful House committee could clip the research wing of the famous Hurricane Hunter squadron By CURTIS MORGAN Hurricane forecasters have steadily sharpened their accuracy over the last decade - thanks in no small part to research work done aboard three specialized planes based in Tampa. But the latest round of proposed federal spending cuts could clip the research wing of the famed "Hurricane Hunter" squadron. A budget proposal that has cleared the House Appropriations Committee would slash 40 percent of funding for operations at MacDill Air Force Base, home base for almost all storm science missions. The proposal remains months and many legislative hurdles from reality, but it already has raised a red flag with top forecasters, who worry reduced flights or hours for two P-3 Orion turboprops and a Gulfstream IV jet would stall on-going efforts aimed at significantly improving computer forecast models. Bill Read, director of the National Hurricane Center in West Miami-Dade, drafted an internal memo earlier this month addressing the importance of the research aircraft. It argued that without continued support of the Tampa air operation "we risk falling short of failing altogether'' of the goals of the Hurricane Forecast Improvement Project. That ambitious 10-year plan, kicked off in 2008, aims to reduce track and intensity errors by 50 percent and improve the accuracy of predicting rapid intensity changes, a potentially dangerous phenomenon which remains a major gap in forecast science. Bill Proenza, who had short, controversial stint as hurricane center director and is now southern regional director of the National Weather Service, said he shared Read's concerns. The short-term savings of cutting the Tampa air operation from $29 million to $17 million would come at high long-term costs, Proenza said. Improved forecasts can save both lives and money, he said, by shrinking the size of evacuations that can cost communities tens of millions of dollars in lost business. "Any type of loss of research data from these two planes would hurt,'' said Proenza, who was reassigned from the hurricane center in 2007 after he complained about a lack of funding and alienated staff who contended he moved too quickly with management changes and misrepresented their views on some scientific issues. Current hurricane center director Read stressed that the memo, obtained by The Miami Herald, was intended for internal distribution and wasn't written in response to the budget proposal. He said he drafted it after questions about the Tampa operation from leadership at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which oversees the weather service and hurricane center and operates the Tampa squadron. "My concern is to just make sure all the facts are out there,'' he said. Forecasters say the budget proposal wouldn't affect day-to-day flights into active tropical systems because those are primarily handled by another squadron of Hurricane Hunters - the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron, an Air Force Reserve operation that flies 10 C-130s out of Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Miss. But the C-130s aren't equipped to do the research work that the NOAA squadron does, Read said. The P-3s are used by both NOAA and university scientists as what he calls "instrument testbeds'' - platforms for testing and developing an array of tools for measuring storms. For example, scientists used the planes to develop "dropsondes," devices that measure storm conditions as they fall through the atmosphere. The planes also helped develop stepped frequency microwave radiometers, which measure surface winds as planes fly at 10,000 feet through storms. Data from the high-flying Gulfstream, he said, has led to a better understanding of steering currents. "It's a critical link,'' Read said. "We don't have any other way to go about doing this.'' After months of debate and lobbying, the House committee agreed to fully fund the National Weather Service at $908 million but cut some $1 bullion from other NOAA agencies and operations, including the aircraft center at MacDill. The agency's climate research had come under fire from some conservatives, but the reason for the proposed research flight cuts weren't exactly clear - with a committee report citing questions about NOAA's overall administrative costs. A spokesman at NOAA headquarters said the House Appropriations budget was a preliminary proposal and it was "premature'' to comment on its potential impact. |