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Lightning Inside Hurricanes Could Predict Intensity
Researchers say lightning inside hurricanes could predict the intensity of the storms.
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LOS ALAMOS, N.M. (July 29, 2009--Deceptively simple looking detectors, one an antenna with built-in GPS, the other electronic sensors inside a large, upside-down metal salad bowl, are the basis of a Los Alamos National Laboratory project studying lightning inside a hurricane in hopes of improving the accuracy and timeliness of forecasts for people in a storm's path.
The effort is in the second of three years of research.
The team is gearing up for the Atlantic hurricane season that peaks in August and September.
The Los Alamos team says hurricane watchers use satellite images and computer simulations to forecast a storm's trajectory, but that it's a challenge to predict how a hurricane will strengthen or weaken as it approaches land.
Researchers found a close correlation between lightning and hurricane intensification in a study of nonproliferation sensor data gathered in 2005 during Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
The Hurricane Lightning Project involves densely packing sensors around the New Orleans area.
Scientist Cheng Ho heads a related project, the Los Alamos Sferic Array, which has stations in Florida and along the Texas coast.
The two complementary arrays cover the entire U.S. Gulf Coast.
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