An Overview of the Hurricane Imaging Radiometer (HIRAD) Robbie Hood, Ruba Amarin, Robert Atlas, M.C. Bailey, Peter Black, Courtney Buckley, Shuyi Chen, Roger DeRoo, Salem El-Nimri, Steve Gross, Christopher Hennon, Glenn Hopkins, Mark James, James Johnson, Linwood Jones, Frank LaFontaine, Timothy Miller, Christopher Ruf, David Simmons, Eric Uhlhorn, and Joe Cione

Team Roles NASA PI – Robbie Hood NOAA PI – Eric Uhlhorn Technical Advisory Committee – Joe Cione, Marty Kress, Joe Casas, Mark Boudreaux Engineering Partners – M.C. Bailey, Roger DeRoo, Steve Gross, Mark James, James Johnson, Linwood Jones, Christopher Ruf, and David Simmons Science Partners - Ruba Amarin, Robert Atlas, Peter Black, Courtney Buckley, Shuyi Chen, Salem El-Nimri, Christopher Hennon, James Johnson, Linwood Jones, Frank LaFontaine, Timothy Miller, Christopher Ruf

Technology Transfer Operational Reconnaissance Hurricane Aircraft (optional) Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Demonstration (optional) Technology Brassboard Demonstration in Laboratory Satellite Demonstration of Improved Hurricane Ocean Surface Vector Winds and Rain Rate HIRAD Technology Investment Roadmap Aircraft Demonstration

Overview Univ. of Michigan Univ. of Alabama/Huntsville Univ. of Central Florida NASA NOAA HIRAD Design Team C-band (4-7 GHz) frequencies Synthetic thinned array radiometer (STAR) Pushbroom imager Single polarization for ocean wind speed Dual polarization for ocean vector wind HIRAD Development Timeline HIRAD Description

Sensitivity of WindSat 6.8 GHz Based on 2006 H*Wind analysis of Hurricanes Dennis, Katrina, Rita

Technical Overview Utilization of NASA Earth Science Office Technologies Synthetic thinned aperture radiometer Digital correlation in field programmable gate array Radio Frequency Interference mitigation Sensor Web information technology Engineering concept with aircraft fixtures Sideview of antenna element

HURRICANE FRANCIS NATURE RUN  =20 mm/hr With SFMR With HIRAD (11 km) Double-headed arrow indicates HIRAD swath width Observing Systems Simulation Experiment Results presented by Tim Miller at AMS Annual Meeting (Jan 08) and AMS Hurricane Conference (Apr 08) SIMULATED DATA FROM NATURE RUN Observation SimulatedComment QuikSCAT SFMR (aircraft ocean surface winds sensor) Winds along ground track; no cross-track structure Flight level windsNot used Dropsonde winds Drops in eyewall and at storm center from aircraft Airborne Doppler Radar Future work GOES cloud winds Using actual data for location (relative to storm center), nature run data plus error for wind values Buoys, ships, coastal sensors HIRAD3 aircraft altitudes, satellite

Aircraft OSSE using H*Wind Nature Run in H*WindSimulated without HIRAD Simulated with HIRAD at 3 km Simulated with HIRAD at 20 km

Satellite OSSE using H*Wind Nature Run in H*WindSimulated without HIRAD Simulated with HIRAD at 350 km

Preliminary Mission Study Performance Characteristics for HIRAD Example of sensor swath coverage of an Atlantic hurricane (yellow symbol) over a typical 24-hour period. XOVWM swath is red and HIRAD swath is blue.

Potential Benefits Imagery –Wind Speeds (10 – 85 m/s or greater) –Rainrate (0-50 mm/hr or greater) –All weather sea surface temperatures Aircraft –Suitable for multiple aircraft –Improved spatial coverage Satellite –Developing consistent record of hurricane intensity for future climate monitoring –Expanding information available to developing countries with limited observational assets