When I was told that I had to pick a topic that was related to science I knew that I was going to write about hurricanes. I have had this interest with this ugly turbulence since I can remember. The definition for hurricane is a disturbance that forms over warm water and has sustaining winds that exceed over 74mph. My report will give you a brief summary of what a hurricane is and how today's technology is helping with the prediction of hurricanes. You"re probably sitting there wondering, "What is there to know about a hurricane?" Well, I think this report will give you a better understanding of hurricanes. .
Since 1944, the United States Navy) and the United States Air Force have been flying consecutive missions into the eye of the hurricane to help warn civilians as well as military personnel of approaching typhoons and hurricanes. During the late 1940's and early 1950's scientist Dr. Robert H. Simpson, had used these missions to take scientific measurements of hurricanes. But it wasn't until 1954, when Hurricane Carol, Edna and Hazel (Hurricane Hazel went right over Washington D.C.) that policymakers took the hurricane threat seriously enough to finance research. Congress in 1955 authorized the funding to United States Weather Bureau (USWB) to create the National Hurricane Research Project (NHRP) which was to conduct research into hurricanes in hopes of improving scientific understanding of them, which in the future would improve forecasting and predictions of when and where hurricanes will hit.
On August 13,1956 the first NHRP flight was made to fly into Hurricane Betsy off the Turks and Caicos Islands. The Air Force aircraft used in the first three years was equipped with instruments to take the temperature, humidity, and pressure measurements. It took these measurements and put them onto computer cards. Researchers were initially interested in describing the three-dimensional structure of hurricanes and in observing the middle and upper level winds, which were thought to push the storm.