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Sea Grant Research Pays Off During Hurricane Isabel

Mobile wind tower data transmitted in real-time provides critical information to NOAA National Hurricane Center, placement of towers optimal

By Susan Ferris, S.C. Sea Grant Consortium

"This effort is a terrific example of how a research project can make a significant contribution to operations while at the same time gather a research data set that will be studied for years."

Dr. Peter Black
Research Meteorologist, NOAA Hurricane Research Division

Researchers with S.C. Sea Grant Consortium and Florida Sea Grant recently collaborated on the deployment of mobile wind towers at four locations near the projected path of Hurricane Isabel. The wind towers were deployed within two days of Hurricane Isabel’s projected landfall in the Outer Banks region of North Carolina. One tower was set up in Elizabeth City, the second in Wilmington, the third in Atlantic Beach, and the fourth in Frisco, which is near Cape Hatteras.


(L) Tower T-2 near Atlantic Beach, N.C., ready for Isabel. (R) Setting up tower T-1 near Wilmington, N.C. (All photos courtesy of FCMP, University of Florida.)

Dr. Tim Reinhold directed the mobile wind tower design and construction while Dr. Kurt Gurley directed the data analysis and real-time data transmission. Dr. Reinhold, a nationally known wind engineer and professor of civil engineering at Clemson University, studies the relationship between hurricane wind speed at ground level and the destructiveness of certain wind speeds on low-rise structures such as homes. Dr. Gurley, associate professor of civil and coastal engineering at the University of Florida, studies signal processing and data analysis. Both Reinhold and Gurley worked with a team of graduate students to design, construct, and deploy the mobile wind towers, which measure wind speed at 15 and 33 feet off the ground, wind direction, and barometric pressure. The real-time data were available via a wireless Internet connection that performed flawlessly. NOAA hurricane researchers, forecasters, and emergency preparedness managers were able to access the data every 15 minutes, preparing the community as far in advance as possible.


(L) Tower T-2 arrives near Atlantic Beach, N.C. to be set up. (R) Retrieving tower T-3 near Frisco, N.C., the Outer Banks.

The mobile wind towers also provided valuable ground truth for some of the new sensors deployed on NOAA research aircraft flying above the storm. “This was one of our first chances to get the high-resolution wind-speed data—near the ground, close to where a storm passes—that we need in order to develop design bases for hurricane-resistant homes,” said Dr. Reinhold. NOAA’s research aircraft measure wind speed at an altitude of 5,000 to 10,000 feet, and it is sometimes difficult to get accurate wind-speed information based solely on the aircraft’s sensors.

The road to Hatteras Village after Isabel.

The mobile wind towers were invaluable to NOAA hurricane researchers and forecasters during this particular storm. For the first time ever, detailed coastal wind tower data were transmitted in real-time from the field to the NOAA Hurricane Center in Miami, Florida. “The placing of the towers appeared just about optimal, and the reliability of the real-time reports…was fantastic,” said Dr. Peter Black, a research meteorologist with the NOAA Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory's Hurricane Research Division. “The data from the mobile wind towers were the only wind reports from the coast that were coming in. I was able to relay the reports to the National Hurricane Center forecasters, giving them a sense for how quickly conditions on the coast were deteriorating as Isabel approached. This effort is a terrific example of how a research project can make a significant contribution to operations while at the same time gather a research data set that will be studied for years.” The observations represent the highest wind speed for which continuous, high- frequency digital observations have been recorded in a U. S. landfalling hurricane.

Related Web sites:

Clemson University Wind Load Test Facility, http://www.clemson.edu/special/hugo/wind.htm
Florida Coastal Monitoring Program, http://www.ce.ufl.edu/~fcmp
NOAA Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory’s Hurricane Research Division, http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/
NOAA National Hurricane Center, http://www.nhc.noaa.gov
S.C. Sea Grant Consortium, http://www.scseagrant.org
Florida Sea Grant, http://flseagrant.org

Research contacts:

Dr. Tim Reinhold, (864) 656-5941, Tim.Reinhold@ces.clemson.edu
Dr. Kurt Gurley, (352) 392-9537 x1508, kgurl@ce.ufl.edu
Dr. Peter Black, (305) 361-4320, peter.black@noaa.gov

Sea Grant contacts:

Susan Ferris, S.C. Sea Grant Consortium, (843) 727-2078, susan.ferris@scseagrant.org
Steve Kearl, Florida Sea Grant, (352) 392-2801, SKearl@mail.ifas.ufl.edu

South Carolina Sea Grant and Florida Sea Grant are members of a national network of 30 Sea Grant colleges and institutional programs administered by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The South Carolina Sea Grant Consortium is comprised of eight university and research institutions that, through a program of research, education, extension, and training, enhance economic opportunities and conservation of coastal and marine resources for South Carolina citizens.

Through funding research in fisheries, aquaculture, marine biotechnology and coastal processes, Florida Sea Grant responds to the forces of change to help Florida provide economic leadership, sustain the quality of its coastal ecosystems and develop its human resources in order to create a sustainable economy and environment. Florida Sea Grant is headquartered at the University of Florida at Gainesville, FL.

[10/20/03]

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