NASA and hurricanes

With Hurricane Earl hitting the eastern seaboard and other storms out in the Atlantic, NASA continues to see fertile ground for it's first tropical cyclone study in nearly 10 years.

NASA has mounted a new six week research project this year called GRIP: Genesis and Rapid Intensification Processes mission.

The idea is to try to learn more about how hurricanes form, and what leads to their intensification.

They are using satellite data, three planes, including a D-C 8 flying weather lab based out of Fort Lauderdale. They have been criss-crossing Hurricane Earl for several hours at a time. The planes are specially equipped with all sorts of instruments to measure what’s going on in a hurricane.

"What makes it get stronger, weaker, and how does that mechanization work. And how can we gather the data to predict it," said DC-8 pilot Dick Ewers.

The picture above, from NASA, was taken Monday from NASA’s DC-8 aircraft in Fort Lauderdale. It was flying over and into Hurricane Earl.

Here’s the link to NASA’s GRIP website. And here are some images and video, including a clip of the DC-8 over Earl.

NASA also has a satellite movie of “Hurricane Alley” that compresses three days into about 36 seconds. Here’s the Web page. Pick the EAST USA images, and click on Hurricane Alley HDTV. You can explore all the others, too.

The mission will continue through Sept. 25.