Hurricane Hunters receive a monumental upgrade
KEESLER AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. --
5–6 minutes

The 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron, also known as the "Hurricane Hunters," is gearing up for the future as the 403rd Maintenance Squadron's Meteorological Equipment Technician shop installed potential lifesaving technology on their planes Oct. 7.

This updated equipment will allow the Hurricane Hunters to report weather data live as they fly into the storms.

"This project has been in the works for a few years," said Master Sgt. Crystal Register, noncommissioned officer in charge of the MET shop. "We have been working with different organizations to make this project happen. This will allow us to send much larger packets of data to include a live stream live stream radar and a faster live chat program to speak with various organizations during flights."

Some of the organizations and shops involved with this update include the MET shop which helped to install the technology, avionics technicians who have been assisting with testing, and other civilian contractors who were critical in supplying the equipment and internet and updating the programs.

"We have accomplished both the ground testing and the test flight which was the biggest challenge we needed to overcome," said Russ Evans, an avionics engineer with PCI Aviation. "The 53rd conducted a test flight over the Gulf of Mexico to ensure the equipment and system worked properly and did not interfere with the other mechanisms of the plane. This is going to bring big changes to the Hurricane Hunters."

The findings from both testing segments were successful in proving the crew could collect and transmit video and data files from the aircraft to the server, said Register.

Aside from some minor adjustments which will be fixed by the MET shop to provide a clearer video quality and reduce future transmission delays, the upgrades will be ready to be implemented during missions conducted by the 53rd WRS.

With these updates, radar imagery can provide another picture of how much precipitation is in certain portions of the storm and in turn will provide faster and more accurate data.

"For the Hurricane Hunters this system provides a solution to transmit radar imagery in flight rather than waiting until landing anywhere from two to five hours after the information is captured," said Register. "Having this internet and equipment installed will allow the crew to transmit larger data files due to this internet access and will allow larger files and more information on the storms to be provided to forecasters and scientists."

In turn, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Weather Service and other weather agencies that receive data from the Hurricane Hunters will be able to provide a deeper analysis of a storm's intensity to improve the tracking predictions and be able to have a better understanding of where the storm will impact.

These updates and technology could potentially lead to the safety of thousands of people.

"These updates and equipment have so much potential for the Hurricane Hunters," said Evans. "By the end of this year, they can use it during their Atmospheric River missions as well."

Atmospheric rivers are described as 'rivers in the sky', where they are large regions of water vapor that can carry enormous amounts of water comparable to the flow of water at the mouth of the Mississippi River.

Once these 'rivers' make landfall they often are released in forms of either heavy rain or snow which can lead to catastrophic damages.

During these missions, the crew will release dropsondes which collect crucial information on the atmospheric river, such as temperature, dewpoint, pressure, wind speed and direction that it is taking.

Once the data is collected, it is given to outside agencies and weather organizations that will use it to further enhance weather predictions and reservoir management.

These flights are part of a research-based project that the 53rd WRS flies in support of the National Centers for Environmental Protection to collect data to improve forecast accuracy.

With this new technology, positive outcomes and a potential for more lifesaving results are on the horizon.

After the test was concluded, the 53rd WRS were able to test the new upgrades with a mission into Hurricane Milton, said Register. During the real-life scenario, ground computers located on the base were able to receive a live stream of weather data while the aircrew were in the middle of the storm. These findings showcased that the equipment does in fact work and will be instrumental to the safety of thousands of lives.