What we'll cover in this conversation

Chris Ruf, professor of climate and space sciences and engineering, and colleagues have been monitoring Irma's intensification in the CYGNSS Science Operations Center on U-M's campus. NASA's CYGNSS, or Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System, is a constellation of eight microsatellite observatories that track storm intensification in unprecedented detail. Today, this process is not well understood and storms are expected to increase in intensity due to climate change. CYGNSS tracks wind speed data at tropical hurricane latitudes across the globe, taking 32 measurements per second. It launched in December and Irma is the second storm it has probed. Read more about CYGNSS.

In this conversation, Chris and Perry discuss:

• Where model data comes from
 
• Measuring hurricane winds with GPS
 
• Using satellites to track hurricane intensity
 
• How CYGNSS has been measuring Harvey and Irma
 
• What’s next for NASA’s CYGNSS
 
• Imaging the flooding in Harvey

Reflection Questions

• What kinds of other weather experiments would you like to see?
• What do you think will be the next frontiers for weather data collection?
• Did this discussion bring up any new questions for you?