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Stoked-up scientists and engineers are rushing to position themselves and their new storm data collection devices along the predicted path of Hurricane Isabel.
Isabel has faded from her previous Category 5 hell-storm status, and is now a strong Category 2 hurricane, with sustained winds near 110 mph. But researchers are still excited about the potential to collect new data from deep within Isabel's core.
They hope this information will allow them to develop new ways of predicting and understanding storms, as well as new methods of building structures that can withstand the wrath of hurricanes.
"Here we are, getting ready to run away from the storm, and we're seeing all these excited guys in vans running right toward it," said Cape Hatteras resident Mary Novelle.
"They really are mad scientists."
The scientists aren't completely insane. Most intend to place their data collection devices in spots where Isabel is predicted to pass over, and then scurry off to relative safety in nearby storm shelters.
Still, if the storm does switch course, they'll have to plunge themselves right into the heart of Isabel to reposition the towers and radar devices.
"A strong Category 2 storm sucks to be out in, but you can survive it," said New York meteorology student Matt Verone. "But if Isabel picks up some speed and goes to a weak 3, I'd suggest those guys just leave their equipment right where it is and stay inside.
"But they probably won't. Storm chasers are adrenaline junkies, and they want to be out in the wildest weather."
Late Tuesday, engineers from South Carolina's Clemson University and the University of Florida rushed to set up their four mobile hurricane monitoring towers directly in the predicted path of Isabel. They said they will reposition the towers as needed as Isabel makes her way onto land.
On Wednesday morning, researchers from the National Center for Atmospheric Research raced to position three Doppler on Wheels, or DOW, mobile radars developed partly at the Center.
The researchers plan to place the DOWs so they can collect data directly from within the eye of Hurricane Isabel.
Scientists will then monitor data captured by the DOWs' electronic eyes and create their own virtual Isabel at NCAR's supercomputing center in Boulder, Colorado.
The newest of the NCAR radar systems, the Rapid-DOW, sends out six radar beams simultaneously and rakes the sky six times faster than traditional single-beam radars.
Rapid-DOW can create detailed three-dimensional storm visualizations that can update every 10 seconds or so, and allows scientists to observe rogue wind gusts, embedded tornadoes and other phenomena as they evolve inside the storm.
Scientists sitting snugly in the NCAR supercomputer center will be able to view the storm as if they were right inside it. They will be running a new Weather Research and Forecast, or WRF, model on NCAR's IBM "Blue Sky" supercomputer, testing the model's skill at predicting Isabel's intensity, internal structures and track.
Blue Sky will run calculations starting Wednesday night, and then throughout the life of Isabel, assuming the DOWs can be repositioned to follow the storm's track. The result will hopefully be a precision two-day forecast. Scientists are hoping to extend such precise forecasting out to a five-day period.
The data collected by the wind towers erected by Clemson University and the University of Florida will be viewable to all on the Web.
The wind towers will collect data that is impossible to access using traditional hurricane research methods, such as hurricane-hunting aircraft, according to Clemson representative Sandy Dees.
Aircraft can, rather obviously, only measure wind speeds above the Earth. The towers will measure wind speed at heights of 33 feet, a standard reference height, and 15 feet, the height of a typical single-story home, Dees said.
The information collected by the wind towers will then be relayed along steel-reinforced cables to computers housed in a protected box affixed to the lower portion of the towers.
The steel-reinforced platforms, each of which weigh up to 4,500 pounds, are designed to withstand hurricane-force winds and can be set up by a team of four engineers in less than 20 minutes. The platforms each have three anemometers specifically designed to operate in high-wind storms.
As of early Wednesday morning, two towers were in place and had begun collecting data in the Fort Macon and Noose River areas of North Carolina. The other two towers are being moved toward the Nags Head area of the Outer Bank Islands that encircle the North Carolina coast.
Isabel is expected to make landfall along the North Carolina coast early Thursday, according to the National Weather Center.
Clemson researchers hope to use the data they collect to improve building codes for coastal areas.
"Isabel will give us one of our first chances to get the high-resolution wind-speed data from near the ground, close to where a storm passes that we need in order to develop design bases for hurricane-resistant homes," said Tim Reinhold, leader of the Clemson team.
"Godspeed and good luck guys," commented Cape Hatteras resident Novelle. "See you later, I'm outta here."
