Global Hawk Takes High Altitude Imaging Wind and Rain Airborne Profiler (HIWRAP) Data

The dimensions of the Global Hawk were exaggerated by a factor of 10 so the viewer could see the UAV. The Global Hawk actual dimensions are 44.4 ft (13.5 m) length by 116.2 ft. (35.4 m) wingspan by 15.2 ft (4.6 m) height. The movie starts as the Global Hawk flies over Hurricane Karl to reveal a hot tower. Hot towers are important to understanding hurricane intensification because they can carry hot moist air through the high layer of cirrus clouds above a hurricane. Hot towers are hard to study because they go so high and they do not last very long. The structure of this storm is seen through reflectivity data where dbz is between 25 and 40. The HIWRAP data is colored based on the height from the surface. Red shows 12 km above sea level, orange is 10 km, yellow is 7.5 km, green is 6 km, and blue is under 6 km.

For more information on GRIP and other elements of NASA's Hurricane and Severe Storm Sentinel project, visit http://www.nasa.gov/HS3.