{"id":87016,"date":"2024-07-03T18:27:04","date_gmt":"2024-07-03T18:27:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/07\/03\/a-roller-coaster-in-a-carwash-why-scientists-are-flying-into-hurricane-beryl\/"},"modified":"2024-07-03T18:27:04","modified_gmt":"2024-07-03T18:27:04","slug":"a-roller-coaster-in-a-carwash-why-scientists-are-flying-into-hurricane-beryl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/07\/03\/a-roller-coaster-in-a-carwash-why-scientists-are-flying-into-hurricane-beryl\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018A Roller Coaster in a Carwash\u2019: Why Scientists Are Flying Into Hurricane Beryl"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1050\" height=\"550\" src=\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/07\/03\/multimedia\/03-cli-beryl-flight-mwfc\/03-cli-beryl-flight-mwfc-facebookJumbo.jpg?resize=1050,550&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"\u2018A Roller Coaster in a Carwash\u2019: Why Scientists Are Flying Into Hurricane Beryl\" title=\"\u2018A Roller Coaster in a Carwash\u2019: Why Scientists Are Flying Into Hurricane Beryl\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Hurricane Beryl, which <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/07\/03\/world\/americas\/hurricane-beryl-grenada.html\" title=\"\">devastated islands<\/a> in Grenada on Tuesday and is now heading toward Jamaica and the Cayman Islands, <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/07\/01\/weather\/hurricane-beryl-size.html\" title=\"\">has broken records<\/a> as the earliest hurricane ever to reach Category 4 and Category 5 intensity in the Atlantic Basin. Wind speeds of at least <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nhc.noaa.gov\/archive\/2024\/al02\/al022024.public.014.shtml?\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">160 miles per hour<\/a> were recorded on Monday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThere are so many superlatives to describe Hurricane Beryl given the time of year, the location and the strength,\u201d said Jonathan Zawislak, a meteorologist and flight director for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Dr. Zawislak is a hurricane hunter, the title held by about 30 to 40 scientists, data crunchers and pilots based in Lakeland, Fla., who fly into hurricanes on three airplanes nicknamed Gonzo, Kermit and Miss Piggy. Both Kermit and Miss Piggy are equipped with Doppler radar on their bellies and tails that scientists use to create 3-D images of the storm.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Over the last three days, Dr. Zawislak and his team have taken off in Kermit from St. Croix, one of the U.S. Virgin Islands, and navigated through the swirling eyewall of Hurricane Beryl. In a Category 4 or 5 storm like Beryl, the eyewall \u2014 the ring of thunderstorms, heavy rain and dangerous winds surrounding the center of the storm \u2014 is loud and bumpy.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cIt\u2019s like being on a roller coaster in a carwash, except you don\u2019t know when the ups and downs will occur, or what the next turn is,\u201d Dr. Zawislak said on Tuesday as he prepared for his third Beryl reconnaissance flight.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But the eye of the storm is calm. During daytime flights, Dr. Zawislak can look out his bubble window from behind the cockpit and see a quiet bowl of cloud with clear, blue sky above.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">His job is to navigate through the chaos, finding the path for Kermit to fly between 8,000 to 10,000 feet while maintaining an airspeed of exactly 210 knots and flying the aircraft directly into the wind so they\u2019re not pushed around.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Jonathan Shannon, a spokesman for NOAA\u2019s Aircraft Operations Center, said the goal of these flights, especially with hurricanes that change quickly, was to provide better data to better prepare for emergencies.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Since Dr. Zawislak\u2019s first flight on Sunday, Hurricane Beryl experienced rapid intensification, which means its wind speeds have increased by 35 miles per hour or more over a 24-hour period. Part of the change came from an eyewall replacement cycle, or what Dr. Zawislak called the \u201cice skater effect\u201d: the storm contracts like a figure skater pulling arms in tight while spinning. Pulling energy from warm ocean water, the storm replaces the old eye with a new one and reorganizes its outer wall.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">As Earth\u2019s atmosphere heats up, more storms are undergoing this kind of rapid intensification. A recent study showed that rapid intensification is now <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/10\/19\/climate\/hurricane-intensity-stronger-faster.html\" title=\"\">twice as likely<\/a> for Atlantic hurricanes, at least partially because of human-caused climate change driven by the burning of fossil fuels.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Beryl is a disastrous start to what Hosmay Lopez, an oceanographer at NOAA\u2019s Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory, said was the \u201cmost bullish\u201d forecast the agency has ever made for an Atlantic hurricane season. NOAA predicts an <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.noaa.gov\/news-release\/noaa-predicts-above-normal-2024-atlantic-hurricane-season\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">above-normal hurricane season<\/a> with four to seven major storms clocking winds above 111 miles per hour.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The forecast is based on the <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/06\/14\/climate\/el-nino-la-nina.html\" title=\"\">change in the El Ni\u00f1o-Southern Oscillation<\/a>, a natural climate pattern linked to warmer conditions in the tropical Pacific Ocean, which is moving from a neutral state toward La Ni\u00f1a. The calm conditions produced by La Ni\u00f1a, combined with abnormally warm ocean temperatures, increase the likelihood of Atlantic hurricane formation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">As they travel, hurricanes stir the surface of the ocean. They churn up colder water from deep below the surface, which can dilute the storm\u2019s energy, like stirring a cup of coffee to cool it down. But along with exceptionally warm sea surface temperatures that have <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/04\/10\/climate\/ocean-heat-records.html\" title=\"\">shattered records<\/a> for more than a year, temperatures are also higher than normal at greater depths.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cIn this case the cup of coffee is very tall, so it\u2019s very difficult to mix up cold water from below, even though you have strong winds,\u201d Dr. Lopez said. Warmer temperatures at a greater depth give the storm even more energy to pull from the ocean, he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Hurricane season, which lasts from June 1 to Nov. 30, has historically been quiet in June and July before picking up in August. Hurricane Beryl beat the previous record-holder for earliest Category 5 storm, Hurricane Emily in 2005, by about two weeks.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/07\/03\/climate\/hurricane-beryl-wind-speeds.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hurricane Beryl, which devastated islands in Grenada on Tuesday and is now heading toward Jamaica and the Cayman Islands, has broken records as the earliest hurricane ever to reach Category 4 and Category 5 intensity in the Atlantic Basin. Wind speeds of at least 160 miles per hour were recorded on Monday. \u201cThere are so [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":87017,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/07\/03\/multimedia\/03-cli-beryl-flight-mwfc\/03-cli-beryl-flight-mwfc-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[74078,75731,75730,1022,26847,20978,601],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87016"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87016"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87016\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":87018,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87016\/revisions\/87018"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/87017"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}