Skip to main content (Press Enter).
 News
    
        Photos

    Week in Photos

    Air Force TV

    Commentaries

    Features

    Art

    About Us
    
        Air Force Senior Leaders
    
        SECAF

    CSAF

    CMSAF

    Biographies

    Fact Sheets

    SECAF Reading List

    CSAF Leadership Library
    
        CSAF Leadership Library 2022

    CSAF Leadership Library 2021

    CSAF Reading List Pre-2020 Archive
    
        2018 CSAF Reading List

    2017 CSAF Reading List

    2016 CSAF Reading List

    CSAF Leadership Library 2023

    CMSAF Leadership Library

    50 Years of the CMSAF

    Adjunct Professors

    Air Force Strategic Documents

    Arctic Strategy

    Empowered Airmen

    State Licensure Portability

    Careers

    AF Federal Advisory Committees

    AF 75th Anniversary

    Policy Updates

    AF Content Management

    Contact Us

    AF Sites
    
        Site RegistrationU.S. Air Force LogoAir Force

        Policy UpdatesNewsroomReoptimizationBIOGRAPHIESAF Senior Leaders      A 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron WC-130J aircraft taking off out of Naval Air Station North Island, San Diego, California for an 8.5 hour mission for one of the missions into an Atmospheric River Feb. 1, 2019.  The Atmospheric Rivers research missions are flown during the winter season to provide weather data forNational Center for Environmental Protection, who runs the Global Forecast System models and  Scripps Institution of Oceanography. (U.S. Air Force courtesy photo.)Hurricane Hunters fly Atmospheric Rivers
                        
                        
                        A 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron WC-130J Hercules aircraft taking off out of Naval Air Station North Island, San Diego, Calif., for an eight-and-a-half hour mission into an Atmospheric River Feb. 1, 2019. The Atmospheric Rivers research missions are flown during the winter season to provide weather data for National Center for Environmental Protection, who runs the Global Forecast System models and Scripps Institution of Oceanography. (U.S. Air Force courtesy photo.)
                
                Photo Details /
                        Download Hi-Res

Hurricane Hunters fly Atmospheric RiversPublished Feb. 5, 2019
                    
                    By Jessica L. Kendziorek
                    
                    
                    403rd Wing Public Affairs
            **NAVAL AIR STATION NORTH ISLAND, Calif. (AFNS) --**In November 2018, California experienced one of its most destructive fires with more than 150,000 acres burned, 18,000 homes destroyed, over 80 deaths, and with the winter rainfall season ahead, heavy rain can bring flooding and mudslides.
This rainfall season puts the Air Force Reserve’s 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron in an on-call status to fly Atmospheric Rivers beginning February through the middle of March. 
The squadron, also known as the Hurricane Hunters, conducted their first Atmospheric River mission Feb. 1 flying two WC-130J Hercules aircraft out of Naval Air Station North Island, San Diego. The Hurricane Hunters are working with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California to conduct operational and research weather reconnaissance drops into these weather events.
"Atmospheric Rivers are just what they sound like, a river of moisture in the atmosphere," said Maj. Jeremy Dehart, 53rd WRS aerial reconnaissance weather officer. "During these events, moisture can be transported from the tropical areas and they normally occur during the winter time frame.”
These rivers of moisture are important for flooding and water sheds along the West Coast, and these events can provide the areas of California, Oregon, Washington and Alaska about half of their annual water supply, in just a few months.
This phenomenon is not as well understood as other weather events, so doing reconnaissance research missions are critical for analysis and to help create better forecast models. This is the third year for the Air Force Reserve 53rd WRS to participate in this type of mission. 
“The data gathered during these research flights is sent directly via data assimilation to global numerical weather prediction models, and indirectly for forecast improvement,” said Maj. Ryan Rickert, 53rd WRS aerial reconnaissance weather officer, who served as the mission director. “This will give a better understanding of the physical processes at work in these storms, which can lead to better representation of these processes in models, and thus better forecasts at all relevant space and time scales.”
While flying in tropical cyclones, these Reserve Citizen Airmen fly between 500 to 10,000 feet above sea, with 500 feet being called an investigation mission, to provide weather data of sea level pressure, flight level and surface winds, temperature and moisture to the National Hurricane Center, where it is used to predict the intensity and path of the storm. 
"While we release numerous dropsondes in tropical systems, the Atmospheric Rivers missions are dropsonde intensive, with the loadmasters dropping more than 30 dropsondes per mission. We fly a track across these rivers and the data that we gather is used to help improve the Global Forecast System models," said Dehart. "Simultaneously, the data gathered is studied and is being used by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography to compare how the models performed with and without the reconnaissance data."  
During the Atmospheric River missions, the 53rd WRS Hurricane Hunters fly through these moisture bands between 25,000 to 30,000 feet. While the weather data sent is the same data, the Scripps Institution of Oceanography is primarily looking for the moisture at the mid to lower levels of the atmosphere. 
During the mission Feb. 1, the squadron flew eight and a half hours and released around 70 dropsondes between the two aircraft, said Maj. Kimberly Spusta, 53rd WRS weather reconnaissance officer.
“We didn’t see much on the radar, but we were releasing dropsondes about every 50 to 60 miles during our flight,” she said.
Rickert said that ultimately the public benefits from the data collected because it will help provide a better lead time for impactful events, a better understanding of where these events will make landfall, how intense it will be and how long it will last. All of the things that have a big impact on the ground.Air Force Reserve 



53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron 



Atmospheric Rivers 



hurricane hunters 



WC-130J 



WC-130J Hercules 



National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 



Scripps Institution of Oceanography 



University of California 



Air Force Reserve 53rd WRS 



aerial reconnaissance 



tropical cyclones 



Reserve Citizen Airmen 



dropsondes Featured News
        Senior Leader Priorities
                SecAF, CSAF, CMSAF begin Indo-Pacific trip focused on ACE
                    
                    DAF leaders talk budget, reoptimizing the force
                    
                    DAF leaders speak at National Character and Leadership Symposium
                    
                    DAF members recognized during BEYA STEM awards
                    
                    DAF senior enlisted advisors discuss Airmen, Guardians in the fightInnovation
                F-16s arrive to be modified for autonomous testing
                    
                    AFWERX director discusses role of tech startups, quick innovation in Great Power Competition
                    
                    DAF delivers lethality at the speed of data during Project Convergence Capstone 4
                    
                    DAF welcomes industry partners to HQ development program
                    
                    DAF announces Spark Tank 2024 finalistsMAJCOM News
                Safety enterprise announces new mission, vision, goals in 2024 strategic plan
                    
                    Air Combat Command welcomes new commander
                    
                    USAFE-AFAFRICA commander discusses Integrated Air, Missile Defense during Munich Security Conference
                    
                    Flosi to AFMC family: Embrace change, make every day count
                    
                    AMC rises to increasing global tension
 Quick Links
AccessibilityContact UsEqual OpportunityFOIA | Privacy | Section 508Information QualityInspector GeneralJAG Court-Martial DocketLink DisclaimerNo FEAR ActOpen GovernmentOSI Tip LinePlain LanguageQuestionsResilienceRSSSite MapVeterans Crisis LineCareers
Join the Air ForceAir Force BenefitsAir Force CareersAir Force ReserveAir National GuardCivilian ServiceConnect
            Get Social with Us
            
            Official United States Air Force Website
    Hosted by Defense Media Activity - WEB.mil