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When it comes to hurricanes, research has come a long

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way to help predict when and where a storm will hit.

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Forecasting intensity is a much bigger challenge, and

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an instrument called HIWRAP will investigate the strength of a storm.

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The HIWRAP instrument will fly aboard an aircraft to study storms

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from the very large down to the very small scale.
Braun: And because those smaller

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scales tend to be much chaotic and difficult to predict,

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and the interactions between those smaller scales and the large scales is far more

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complex, it makes it a huge challenge to try to

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improve intensity forecasts.
The High-Altitude Imaging

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Wind and Rain Airborne Profiler, or HIWRAP, is a

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radar designed to examine the factors of storm intensity.

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Braun: The HIWRAP Doppler radar is a dual-frequency radar, so it has two frequencies

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that measure at two different angles and as the plane is

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flying, it's sort of scanning in a cone.

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And as it's flying over a particular target--say, the eyewall of a storm--by scanning

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in a cone it looks first one way, and then sees the storm from a different direction.

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And that's what allows us then to measure the three-dimensional

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winds and precipitation within the storm.
Because the storm and the aircraft

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are both moving, the HIWRAP must send out 5,000 pulses

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a second to get an accurate read on precipitation particles,

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like rain or ice. The signals that bounce back reveal the type,

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size, and distribution of rain or ice particles, as well as

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how fast the particles are moving. The speed of the particles can help determine

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the wind and circulation in a storm. HIWRAP will provide

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scientists with years of unprecedented data that will allow them to

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decipher the formation, structure, and intensification

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of hurricanes.

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