1. Overview of the NOAA Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Program Robbie Hood, Director NOAA Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Program 25 September 2012

2. NOAA and NASA Manned and Unmanned Flight Capabilities Fuel consumption (gph) for nominal mission 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 Altitude (kft) Duration (hrs) LASE LALE IKHANA APQ-16 Resolution Puma AE md4-1000 MALE Manned Aircraft UAS ER-2 WB-57 Gulfstream DC-8 WP-3D Turbo Commander King Air Twin Otter Gray Eagle Global Hawk HALE Shadow 200 Manta Viking 400 Arcturus T-20 ScanEagle Aerosonde 70 18 1750 740 0.2 444 75 0.3 0 (battery)

3. NOAA UAS Strategic Vision and Goals Vision –UAS will revolutionize NOAA observing strategies by 2015 comparable to the introduction of satellite and radar assets decades earlier Goals –Goal 1: Increase UAS observing capacity –Goal 2: Develop high science-return UAS missions High impact weather monitoring, Polar monitoring Marine monitoring –Goal 3: Transition cost-effective, operationally feasible UAS solutions into routine operations

4. Polar Monitoring - Greenland Glacier and Ice Seal Testbed Co-leads: Dr. Elizabeth Weatherhead (University of Colorado) Dr. Robyn Angliss (NOAA/ National Marine Mammal Laboratory Partners: Greenland Glacier Study / University of Colorado and BAE Systems -Advanced Ceramics Research Bering Sea Ice Seal Study / University of Alaska- Fairbanks and Boeing - Insitu Images courtesy of James Maslanik, University of Colorado Images courtesy of Greg Walker, University of Alaska - Fairbanks Greenland Glacier Study - 2008 Bering Sea Ice Seal Study - 2009

5. NMFS uses two types of aircraft survey protocols for marine mammals 1.Broad, large scale line transect surveys for density/abundance/distribution Four species of Arctic ice seals Whales Beyond line-of-sight flights will be critical to mission success 2. Collecting data on wildlife at known locations Steller sea lions Northern fur seals Do testing within line of sight; Beyond line-of-sight flights will be necessary long-term for collection of some data Evaluated ScanEagle in 2009 Evaluated hexacopter in Antarctica in 2011. Evaluated Puma and quadcopter in 2012. Planning to evaluate in 2014

6. Soot Transport, Absorption, and Deposition Study (STADS) NOAA component of the Coordinated Investigation of Climate-Cryosphere Interactions (CICCI) collaboration with Norwegian and Russian scientists STADS Mission Scientists: Tim Bates and Patricia Quinn (NOAA/ESRL)

7. Completed Science Campaigns Global Hawk Pacific (March-April 2010) 11 instruments 4 science missions, 76 hours First Global Hawk Science Mission Flights spanned 12 to 85 deg N Latitudes Genesis and Rapid Intensification Processes (August- September 2010) 4 Instruments 5 science missions, 114 hours total First Global Hawk severe storm over flight Winter Storm Pacific and Atmospheric Rivers (February-March 2011) 2 Instruments 3 science missions, 70 hours total First operational dropsonde deployment, 177sondes total 7

8. Mission Scientists: Paul Newman (NASA/GSFC) and David Fahey (NOAA/ESRL) First Global Hawk flight north of 70º N. First Global Hawk mission to have pole to pole command and control, and payload communications links. Global Hawk Pacific (GloPac) Experiment A partnership between NASA, NOAA, and Northrop Grumman

9. NCAR/NOAA GH Dropsonde System Dropsonde System Launch Tube Dropsonde Launch Assembly Dropsonde System Electronics

10. NOAA Benefit From NASA Hurricane Severe Storm Sentinel (HS3) Experiment Environment Observations Profiles of temperature, humidity, wind, and pressure (AVAPS) Cloud top height (CPL) Cloud top temperature and profiles of temperature and humidity (S-HIS) Over-storm Observations Doppler velocity, horizontal winds, and ocean surface winds (HIWRAP) Profiles of temperature and humidity and total precipitable water (HAMSR) Ocean surface winds and rai n (HIRAD)

11. NASA HS3 Mission Over Tropical Storm Nadine (11 – 12 Sept 2012) 3 NOAA Pilots Participated in 25-Hour Mission First Real-time Global Hawk Dropsonde Into NOAA Gateway

12. HS3 Preliminary Results 5 science flights to date 4 into various stages of Nadine 268 sondes deployed Next flight scheduled for Wednesday NOAA-led real-time data processing Data transmitted through GTS Data incorporated in NHC discussions Parallel model runs with assimilation planned BASED ON THE IMPROVED SATELLITE APPEARANCE AND TROPICAL CLASSIFICATIONS OF 2.5 AND 3.0 FROM SAB AND TAFB... NADINE IS CLASSIFIED AS A TROPICAL STORM ONCE AGAIN. DROPSONDE DATA FROM AN ONGOING NASA GLOBAL HAWK MISSION SUGGESTS THAT THE MAXIMUM WINDS ARE NEAR 50 KT. A DROPWINDSONDE NEAR THE CENTER AROUND 1030 UTC MEASURED A PRESSURE OF 989.9 MB WITH STRONG WINDS...SO THE ESTIMATED MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE IS 986 MB. TROPICAL STORM NADINE DISCUSSION NUMBER 44 NWS NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER 1100 AM AST SUN SEP 23 2012

13. Five HS3 Flights

14. Contact Information UAS Web Site: http://uas.noaa.gov/ Questions should be directed to: noaa.uas@noaa.gov noaa.uas@noaa.gov Phil Kenul - NOAA UAS Program Senior Technical Advisor (philip.m.kenul@noaa.gov) Robbie Hood - NOAA UAS Program Director (robbie.hood@noaa.gov)robbie.hood@noaa.gov