VORTEX projects
Encyclopedia
Tornado
A tornado is a violent, dangerous, rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. They are often referred to as a twister or a cyclone, although the word cyclone is used in meteorology in a wider...
es. VORTEX1 was the first time scientists completely researched the entire evolution of a tornado, enabling a greater understanding of the processes involved with tornadogenesis
Tornadogenesis
Tornadogenesis is the process by which a tornado forms. There are many types of tornadoes, and each type of tornado can have several different methods of formation. Scientific study is ongoing, as some aspects of tornado formation remain a mystery....
. VORTEX2 is using enhanced technology allowing scientists to improve forecasting capabilities to improve advance warnings to residents. VORTEX2 is seeking to explain how tornadoes form, how long they last and why they last that long, and what causes them to dissipate.
The VORTEX 2 project concluded on July 6th, 2010.
VORTEX1
The VORTEX1 project sought to understand how a tornadoTornado
A tornado is a violent, dangerous, rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. They are often referred to as a twister or a cyclone, although the word cyclone is used in meteorology in a wider...
is produced by deploying around 18 vehicles that were equipped with customized instruments used to measure and analyze the weather
Weather
Weather is the state of the atmosphere, to the degree that it is hot or cold, wet or dry, calm or stormy, clear or cloudy. Most weather phenomena occur in the troposphere, just below the stratosphere. Weather refers, generally, to day-to-day temperature and precipitation activity, whereas climate...
around a tornado. The project has also stated that it is interested in why some supercell
Supercell
A supercell is a thunderstorm that is characterized by the presence of a mesocyclone: a deep, continuously-rotating updraft. For this reason, these storms are sometimes referred to as rotating thunderstorms...
s produce tornadoes while others do not. It also concerned itself with why some supercells form violent tornadoes versus weak tornadoes.
The original project took place in 1994 and 1995, while several smaller studies were conducted from 1996-2008. VORTEX1 documented the entire life cycle of a tornado for the first time. Severe weather warnings improved after the research collected from VORTEX 1 and many believe that VORTEX1 contributed to this improvement. “An important finding from the original VORTEX experiment was that the factors responsible for causing tornadoes happen on smaller time and space scales than scientists had thought. New advances will allow for a more detailed sampling of a storm’s wind, temperature and moisture environment and lead to a better understanding of why tornadoes form – and how they can be more accurately predicted,” said Stephan Nelson, NSF program director for physical and dynamic meteorology.
VORTEX had the capability to fly doppler weather radar above the tornado approximately every five minutes.
VORTEX research allowed the National Weather Service to provide tornado warning
Tornado warning
A tornado warning is an alert issued by government weather services to warn that severe thunderstorms with tornadoes may be imminent. It can be issued after a tornado or funnel cloud has been spotted by eye, or more commonly if there are radar indications of tornado formation...
s to residents with a lead time of 13 minutes. A federal research meteorologist, Don Burgess, estimates that the "false alarms" pertaining to severe weather by the National Weather Service have declined by 10 percent.
The movie Twister was at least partially inspired by the VORTEX project.
VORTEX2
VORTEX2 was an expanded second VORTEX project with field phases from 10 May until 13 June 2009 and 1 May until 15 June 2010. VORTEX2's goals were studying why some thunderstorms produce tornadoes while others do not, how to make more accurate and longer lead time tornado forecasts and warnings, and tornado structure. VORTEX2 is by far the largest and most ambitious tornado study ever with over 100 scientific participants from many different universities and research laboratories."We still do not completely understand the processes that lead to tornado formation and shape its development. We hope that VORTEX2 will provide the data we need to learn more about the development of tornadoes and in time help forecasters give people more advance warning before a tornado strikes," says Roger Wakimoto, now director of the National Center of Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and a principal investigator for VORTEX2.
"Then you can get first responders to be better prepared—police, fire, medical personnel, even power companies. Now, that's not even remotely possible," said Stephan P. Nelson, a program director in the atmospheric sciences
Atmospheric sciences
Atmospheric sciences is an umbrella term for the study of the atmosphere, its processes, the effects other systems have on the atmosphere, and the effects of the atmosphere on these other systems. Meteorology includes atmospheric chemistry and atmospheric physics with a major focus on weather...
division of the National Science Foundation
National Science Foundation
The National Science Foundation is a United States government agency that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National Institutes of Health...
.
Joshua Wurman
Joshua Wurman
Joshua Michael Aaron Ryder Wurman is an atmospheric scientist and inventor noted for tornado, hurricane, and weather radar research.-Life and career:Wurman was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and attended Radnor High School...
, president of the Center for Severe Weather Research in Boulder, Colorado
Boulder, Colorado
Boulder is the county seat and most populous city of Boulder County and the 11th most populous city in the U.S. state of Colorado. Boulder is located at the base of the foothills of the Rocky Mountains at an elevation of...
proposes, "if we can increase that lead time from 13 minutes to half an hour, then the average person at home could do something different. Maybe they can seek a community shelter instead of just going into their bathtub. Maybe they can get their family to better safety if we can give them a longer warning and a more precise warning."
VORTEX2 deployed 50 vehicles customized with mobile radar
Weather radar
Weather radar, also called weather surveillance radar and Doppler weather radar, is a type of radar used to locate precipitation, calculate its motion, estimate its type . Modern weather radars are mostly pulse-Doppler radars, capable of detecting the motion of rain droplets in addition to the...
, including the Doppler On Wheels
Doppler On Wheels
Doppler On Wheels is a fleet of radar trucks maintained by the Center for Severe Weather Research led by Joshua Wurman, with the funding mainly provided by the National Science Foundation...
(DOW) radars, SMART Radars, the NOXP radar, a fleet of instrumented vehicles, unmanned aerial vehicle
Unmanned aerial vehicle
An unmanned aerial vehicle , also known as a unmanned aircraft system , remotely piloted aircraft or unmanned aircraft, is a machine which functions either by the remote control of a navigator or pilot or autonomously, that is, as a self-directing entity...
s, deployable instrument arrays called Sticknet and Podnet, and mobile weather balloon
Weather balloon
A weather or sounding balloon is a balloon which carries instruments aloft to send back information on atmospheric pressure, temperature, humidity and wind speed by means of a small, expendable measuring device called a radiosonde...
launching equipment. Over 100 scientists and crew will research tornadoes and supercell thunderstorms in the Tornado Alley
Tornado Alley
Tornado Alley is a colloquial and popular media term that most often refers to the area of the United States where tornadoes are most frequent. Although an official location is not defined, the area between the Rocky Mountains and Appalachian Mountains is usually associated with it.The areas...
of the United States plains between Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
and Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
. A number of institutions are involved in the US$
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
11.9 million project: Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
, the National Weather Service
National Weather Service
The National Weather Service , once known as the Weather Bureau, is one of the six scientific agencies that make up the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the United States government...
, the Bureau of Meteorology in Australia, Italy, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration , pronounced , like "noah", is a scientific agency within the United States Department of Commerce focused on the conditions of the oceans and the atmosphere...
(NOAA), Environment Canada
Environment Canada
Environment Canada , legally incorporated as the Department of the Environment under the Department of the Environment Act Environment Canada (EC) (French: Environnement Canada), legally incorporated as the Department of the Environment under the Department of the Environment Act Environment...
, universities across the United States, and the NOAA Storm Prediction Center
Storm Prediction Center
The Storm Prediction Center , located in Norman, Oklahoma, is tasked with forecasting the risk of severe thunderstorms and tornadoes in the contiguous United States. The agency issues convective outlooks, mesoscale discussions, and watches as a part of this process...
.
The project included DOW6, DOW7, Rapid-Scan DOW, SMART-RADARs, NOXP, UMASS-X, UMASS-W, and CIRPAS for their mobile radar contingent. The Doppler on Wheels
Doppler On Wheels
Doppler On Wheels is a fleet of radar trucks maintained by the Center for Severe Weather Research led by Joshua Wurman, with the funding mainly provided by the National Science Foundation...
are supplied by the Center for Severe Weather Research CSWR, and the SMART-Radars from the University of Oklahoma. National Severe Storms Laboratory
National Severe Storms Laboratory
The National Severe Storms Laboratory is a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration weather research laboratory located at the National Weather Center in Norman, Oklahoma....
(NSSL) has supplied the NOXP radar, as well as several other radar units from the University of Massachusetts
University of Massachusetts
This article relates to the statewide university system. For the flagship campus often referred to as "UMass", see University of Massachusetts Amherst...
, the Office of Naval Research
Office of Naval Research
The Office of Naval Research , headquartered in Arlington, Virginia , is the office within the United States Department of the Navy that coordinates, executes, and promotes the science and technology programs of the U.S...
and Texas Tech University
Texas Tech University
Texas Tech University, often referred to as Texas Tech or TTU, is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas, United States. Established on February 10, 1923, and originally known as Texas Technological College, it is the leading institution of the Texas Tech University System and has the...
(TTU). NSSL and CSWR are supplying mobile mesonets. Mobile radiosonde launching vehicles are provided by NSSL, NCAR, and the State University of New York at Oswego (SUNY Oswego). There are quite a few other deployable state of the art instrumentation, such as Sticknets from TTU, Tornado PODS from CSWR, and four disdrometer
Disdrometer
A disdrometer is an instrument used to measure the drop size distribution and velocity of falling hydrometeors. Some disdrometers can distinguish between rain, graupel, and hail....
s from University of Colorado CU
University of Colorado at Boulder
The University of Colorado Boulder is a public research university located in Boulder, Colorado...
, and University of Illinois.
VORTEX2 technology allowed trucks with radar to be placed in and near tornadic storms and allowed continuous observations of the tornado activity. Howard Bluestein, a meteorology professor at the University of Oklahoma said, "We will be able to distinguish between rain, hail, dust, debris, flying cows."
As well photogrammetry
Photogrammetry
Photogrammetry is the practice of determining the geometric properties of objects from photographic images. Photogrammetry is as old as modern photography and can be dated to the mid-nineteenth century....
teams, damage survey teams, unmanned aircraft
Unmanned aerial vehicle
An unmanned aerial vehicle , also known as a unmanned aircraft system , remotely piloted aircraft or unmanned aircraft, is a machine which functions either by the remote control of a navigator or pilot or autonomously, that is, as a self-directing entity...
and weather balloon launching vans will help to surround the tornadoes and thunderstorms. The equipment amassed will allow three dimensional pictures of the storms to be collected with radars and other instruments every 75 seconds, and resolution of the tornado and tornadic storm cells as close as 200 feet (61 m).
Scientists met May 10 and held a class which taught the crews how to launch the Tornado Pods which will need to be sent off within 45 seconds. Vortex 2 is equipped with 12 Tornado PODS which are instruments mounted onto 1 metres (3.3 ft) towers which measure wind velocity and direction. The aim is that the measurements are taken in the centre of the tornado. Once the pods are deployed, the teams repeat the process at the next location until finally the teams return to the south of the tornado to retrieve the pods with the recorded data. The process is then repeated again. This happens within 2 miles (3.2 km) or 4 minutes away from the tornado itself.
The team will have 24 two-meter (7 ft) high portable sticknets which can be set up at various locations around tornado storm cells to measure wind fields, provide atmospheric readings, and record acoustically the hail and precipitation.
Scientists are still seeking to understand which supercell
Supercell
A supercell is a thunderstorm that is characterized by the presence of a mesocyclone: a deep, continuously-rotating updraft. For this reason, these storms are sometimes referred to as rotating thunderstorms...
thunderstorm
Thunderstorm
A thunderstorm, also known as an electrical storm, a lightning storm, thundershower or simply a storm is a form of weather characterized by the presence of lightning and its acoustic effect on the Earth's atmosphere known as thunder. The meteorologically assigned cloud type associated with the...
s which form mesocyclone
Mesocyclone
A mesocyclone is a vortex of air, approximately 2 to 10 miles in diameter , within a convective storm....
s will further produce tornadoes.
Updates on the progress of the project will be posted on the Vortex 2 home page. The scientists have also started a blog of live reports. "Even though this field phase seems to be the most spectacular and seems like it's a lot of work, by far the majority of what we're doing is when we go back to our labs, when we work with each other, when we work with our students to try to figure out just what is it that we've collected," Wurman said. "It's going to take years to digest this data and to really get the benefit of this." Penn State University will feature the public release of the initial scientific findings in the fall.
The forecasters are determining the best probability of sighting a tornado. As the trucks traveled to Clinton, OK
Clinton, Oklahoma
Clinton is a city in Custer and Washita counties in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The population was 9,033 at the 2010 census.-History:The community began in 1899 when two men, J.L. Avant and E.E...
from Childress, TX
Childress, Texas
Childress is a city in Childress County, Texas, United States. The population was 6,778 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Childress County. Like the county, the city is named for George Campbell Childress, a native of Nashville, Tennessee, who was the principal author of the Texas...
, they found mammatus cloud
Mammatus cloud
Mammatus, also known as mammatocumulus , is a meteorological term applied to a cellular pattern of pouches hanging underneath the base of a cloud...
s, and lightning at sundown May 13.
The project finally encountered its first tornado on the afternoon of June 5 when they successfully intercepted a tornado in southern Goshen County, Wyoming which lasted for approximately 25 minutes. One of their vehicles, Probe 1, suffered hail damage during the intercept. Later that evening, embedded Weather Channel
The Weather Channel
The Weather Channel is a US cable and satellite television network since May 2, 1982, that broadcasts weather forecasts and weather-related news, along with entertainment programming related to weather 24 hours a day...
reporter Mike Bettes reported that elements of VORTEX2 had intercepted a second tornado in Nebraska.
Partial list of scientists and crew
The complete team comprises about 50 scientists and is supplemented by students. A complete listing of principal investigators (PI's) is at http://vortex2.org. An alphabetical partial listing of VORTEX2 scientists and crew:- Dr. Nolan Atkins, Scientific PI, Professor Lyndon State University
- Dr. Michael Biggerstaff, Scientific PI, Associate Professor, University of Oklahoma, expertise is in polarimetric radars, mobile radars, cloud physicsCloud physicsCloud physics is the study of the physical processes that lead to the formation, growth and precipitation of clouds. Cloud formations are composed of microscopic droplets of liquid water , tiny crystals of ice , or both...
and electrification, hurricanes, severe local storms, storm dynamics. His specialty is in large scale systems, and with radar meteorology. He is an associate professor of meteorology. - Dr. Howie Bluestein, Steering Committee, Scientific PI, Professor University of Oklahoma specializes in violent weather phenomena and provides expertise with doppler weather radar. He is a professor in meteorology
- Don Burgess, Steering Committee, Scientific PI, Scientist at CIMMS
- Dr. David Dowell, Steering Committee, Scientific PI, Scientist, NCAR
- Dr. Katja Friedrich, Scientific PI, Associate Professor, University of Colorado
- Dr. Karen Kosiba, Scientific PI, is a senior research meteorologist at the Center for Severe Weather Research
- Timothy P. MarshallTimothy P. MarshallTim Marshall is an American civil engineer and meteorologist concentrating on damage analysis, particularly that from wind and other weather phenomena...
, P.E.EngineerAn engineer is a professional practitioner of engineering, concerned with applying scientific knowledge, mathematics and ingenuity to develop solutions for technical problems. Engineers design materials, structures, machines and systems while considering the limitations imposed by practicality,...
is a damage analyst and civil engineer who has worked in meteorological studies. - Dr. Paul Markowski, Steering Committee, Scientific PI, associate professor in meteorologyMeteorologyMeteorology is the interdisciplinary scientific study of the atmosphere. Studies in the field stretch back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology did not occur until the 18th century. The 19th century saw breakthroughs occur after observing networks developed across several countries...
at Pennsylvania State University, specializes in severe storm dynamics. - Dr. Matthew Parker, Scientific PI, Mobile Soundings Coordinator, Associate Professor of MeteorologyMeteorologyMeteorology is the interdisciplinary scientific study of the atmosphere. Studies in the field stretch back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology did not occur until the 18th century. The 19th century saw breakthroughs occur after observing networks developed across several countries...
at North Carolina State UniversityNorth Carolina State UniversityNorth Carolina State University at Raleigh is a public, coeducational, extensive research university located in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. Commonly known as NC State, the university is part of the University of North Carolina system and is a land, sea, and space grant institution...
. Specializes in the dynamics of convective storms, including tornadic supercells and mesoscale convective systems (MCSs). - Dr. Erik Rasmussen, Steering Committee, Scientific PI, VORTEX2 co-PI, Scientist, Rasmussen Systems
- Dr. Yvette Richardson, Steering Committee, Scientific PI, associate professor in meteorologyMeteorologyMeteorology is the interdisciplinary scientific study of the atmosphere. Studies in the field stretch back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology did not occur until the 18th century. The 19th century saw breakthroughs occur after observing networks developed across several countries...
at Pennsylvania State University, specializes in severe storm dynamics. - Dr. Glen Romine, Scientific PI, Project Scientist, NCAR
- Paul Robinson is a senior research meteorologist at the Center for Severe Weather Research.
- Dr. Roger Wakimoto, Scientific PI, Director National Center for Atmospheric Research
- Dr. Chris Weiss, Scientific PI, Associate Professor, Texas Tech University
- Dr. Lou Wicker is a research scientist with a specialty in modeling of severe storm dynamics. He was also a co-team leader in VORTEX1.
- Dr. Joshua WurmanJoshua WurmanJoshua Michael Aaron Ryder Wurman is an atmospheric scientist and inventor noted for tornado, hurricane, and weather radar research.-Life and career:Wurman was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and attended Radnor High School...
Steering Committe, Scientific PI, VORTEX2 PI, president at the Center for Severe Weather Research with a specialty in mobile doppler weather radar, invented and leads the Doppler On WheelsDoppler On WheelsDoppler On Wheels is a fleet of radar trucks maintained by the Center for Severe Weather Research led by Joshua Wurman, with the funding mainly provided by the National Science Foundation...
(DOW) program.