As Hurricane Ian gathered strength on the coast of Florida, scientists from the NOAA's Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory deployed an Area-I Altius-600 uncrewed aircraft system for the first time.
Scientists at the National Hurricane Center, Environmental Modeling Center, and Hurricane Research Division at NOAA’s Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory are now using the datasets provided by the uncrewed aircraft to better understand the extremely turbulent hurricane boundary layer environment. This ability, coupled with other observing systems, helps clarify how tropical systems function.