The first successful typhoon eyewall-penetration reconnaissance flight mission conducted by the unmanned aerial vehicle, Aerosonde
Journal
Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society
Journal Volume
87
Journal Issue
11
Pages
1481-1483
Date Issued
2006
Author(s)
Lin, P.-H.
Abstract
Last October, the Taiwan Aerosonde Team (TAT) finally flew the Aerosonde into the eye of a typhoon. This first-ever eyewall penetration by the small unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) was in Typhoon Longwang at 1620 UTC at the 3000-m flight level, while the eye was 100 km offshore of the east coast of Taiwan. The flight lasted nearly 11 h. After a data-quality check, preliminary analysis showed that the Aerosonde measured the peak tangential wind of 54 m s-1 during the eyewall penetration. This strong wind was consistent with the radial wind speed of 51.3 m s-1 retrieved from the single Doppler radar station at Hualien with a 2.4° elevation angle at 3-km altitude.
Type
journal article