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The Global Hawk<\/strong> at the NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force\u00a0Base<\/p>\nEl Ni\u00f1o, where art\u00a0thou?<\/strong><\/h3>\nFebruary 5, 2015by Gijs de Boer (CIRES)<\/p>\n
EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, California\u200a\u2014\u200aA ridge of high pressure has effectively isolated the US from the Pacific storm systems. This weather pattern has made sampling with the Global Hawk less attractive, since the weather systems that we\u2019re trying to get measurements on aren\u2019t happening. This has also raised questions within the news media (particularly here in Southern California) about where El Ni\u00f1o and the stormy weather associated with it are hiding.<\/p>\n
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Today, Armstrong hosted a media event to tell the public what it is that we\u2019re doing with the Global Hawk for the SHOUT\/ENRR mission, and one reporter raised this question directly.<\/p>\n
While the question is a fair one, there are a couple of important things to remember:<\/p>\n
1) El Ni\u00f1o is a wide-reaching phenomenon that impacts a variety of weather patterns around the globe. While in general, El Ni\u00f1o conditions result in a wetter, stormier California, that\u2019s not always the case. We know that this El Ni\u00f1o is not a dud, based on the sea surface temperatures observed. However, just how that event ultimately plays out on global weather patterns is something we\u2019re working very hard to understand!<\/p>\n
2) El Ni\u00f1o conditions will likely be around for a while to come. As with any large scale pattern, there will always be local-scale variability, even when the large-scale pattern is set up a certain way. While the current ridge may be particularly anomalous for an El Ni\u00f1o year, it\u2019s certainly quite possible that future storms, fueled by the gigantic sea surface temperature anomaly along the equator in the Pacific, will still impact California in the weeks to come. In fact, it was only a few days ago when I was flying into Burbank for this campaign, that there was a significant weather event here in Southern California, with wind and substantial rainfall.<\/p>\n
What does all of this mean for the mission? That we need to be patient for a bit longer. It\u2019s true that we\u2019re \u201con the clock\u201d as far as the campaign goes, so we are exploring options in case the storm pattern doesn\u2019t become more active in these last two weeks. One option may be to more closely coordinate with the G-IV and focus our efforts towards the equator. Another option may be to study the storms that the ridge is now steering directly into Alaska. Ultimately, this is all part of a field campaign\u200a\u2014\u200awe still (thankfully) can\u2019t control the weather, so we have to make the best of the situation.<\/p>\n
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For the time being, one positive note about the high pressure ridge: it made for some fantastic weather for media day, allowing me to take some additional photographs of the aircraft!<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\nMy shift out here at Edwards is coming to a close\u200a\u2014\u200awhile it would have been great to be a part of one of the 24-hour science flights, I\u2019ve learned a lot about the system and its capabilities during my week here. I certainly hope to do it again in the future!<\/p>\n
By CIRES<\/a> on February 5, 2016<\/a>.<\/p>\nExported from Medium<\/a> on January 12, 2017.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
<\/p>\n<\/p>\nFor the time being, one positive note about the high pressure ridge: it made for some fantastic weather for media day, allowing me to take some additional photographs of the aircraft!<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n My shift out here at Edwards is coming to a close\u200a\u2014\u200awhile it would have been great to be a part of one of the 24-hour science flights, I\u2019ve learned a lot about the system and its capabilities during my week here. I certainly hope to do it again in the future!<\/p>\n By CIRES<\/a> on February 5, 2016<\/a>.<\/p>\n Exported from Medium<\/a> on January 12, 2017.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"