Contact: Robbie Ward
Early next week, a team of Mississippi State and other undergraduate and graduate student researchers with the university's Northern Gulf Institute will release weather tracking balloons used to help forecast hurricanes.
From Waveland, the balloons will carry a variety of sensors that detect wind patterns and seek to help improve hurricane forecasting. The 2 p.m. Tuesday [Aug. 25] launch near the intersection of South Beach Boulevard and Washington Street will serve as a test for two upcoming launches taking place between Sept. 1 and Oct. 1.
In 2008, most of the Gulf Coast-deployed balloons travelled either across the Atlantic Ocean toward Europe or over South America, tracking winds of developing tropical cyclones.
About 25 students from Mississippi State and Texas A&M universities and the University of Miami are involved in the current project, which is part of the Weather In-site Deployment Optimization Method.
Commonly referred to as WISDOM, the research program seeks to improve hurricane forecasting time three-to-seven days before a storm's landfall. With the ultimate goal of saving lives, WISDOM is a cooperative effort between the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Air Force, and Northern Gulf Institute.
The NGI is led by David Shaw, one of 14 at Mississippi State holding the top rank of Giles Distinguished Professor. He also directs the university's Geosystems Research Institute.
In addition to MSU, the NGI is a consortium of researchers from Louisiana State and Florida State universities, University of Southern Mississippi, and the Dauphin Island Sea Laboratory near Mobile, Ala. (For more, visit www.northerngulfinstitute.org/home/ngi.php.)
For more about the Tuesday balloon launch, contact Debbie McBride at 662-325-9333 or dmcbride@hpc.msstate.edu. For information about NOAA, contact Jana Goldman at 301-734-1123.
For more information about Mississippi State University, see http://www.msstate.edu/.