The U.S. Department of Defense will no longer provide satellite weather data, leaving hurricane forecasters without crucial information about storms as peak hurricane season looms in the Atlantic.
But the Defense Department data also allow hurricane forecasters to see hurricanes as they form, and monitor them in real-time.
NOAA, which oversees the National Hurricane Center, says the loss of the Defense Department data will not lead to less-accurate hurricane forecasts this year.
Without the Defense Department data, there will be bigger gaps in time when forecasters will not know the current conditions inside a storm.
A scramble to keep monitoring sea ice The Defense Department satellites were also the main source of real-time information about changes to sea ice.
The U. A. As the Atlantic’s peak hurricane season approaches, the Department of Defense will no longer supply satellite weather data, depriving hurricane forecasters of vital information about storms.
The Defense Department has been using satellites to gather data on ocean and atmospheric conditions for over 40 years. The raw data from the satellites is processed by a Navy organization known as the Fleet Numerical Meteorology and Oceanography Center, and then given to scientists and weather forecasters for a variety of uses, such as measuring sea ice in polar regions and predicting hurricanes in real time.
In a notice released this week by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, the Department of Defense said it would no longer supply that information.
Brian Tang, a University at Albany hurricane researcher, says, “I was surprised, given how important it is for forecasting hurricanes and monitoring important features like sea ice.”. Forecasters frequently utilize this data. “..”.
Questions about why the Navy has ceased sharing the data with forecasters and scientists were not answered.
An official from the U.S. S. . The Department of Defense will keep using the satellites and instruments even after it stops allowing scientists to access them, according to a statement from Space Force, the agency in charge of the satellites.
“It’s not an issue of funding cuts,” says Mark Serreze, director of the National Snow and Ice Data Center, a federally funded research center in Colorado that has been tracking sea ice since 1979 using the soon-to-be-terminated Defense Department data. “Cybersecurity issues exist. We are being told that. “,”.
When asked about the nature of those concerns, the Navy did not reply.
monitoring hurricane development.
Because it operates aircraft and ships worldwide and requires information on atmospheric and ocean conditions, the Department of Defense gathers satellite weather data.
However, hurricane forecasters can also see hurricanes as they form and track them in real time thanks to the Defense Department data.
“We can use the data to see the structure of hurricanes,” Tang says, “like an MRI or X-ray. “,”.
For instance, hurricane specialists can determine the location of a newly formed storm’s center, enabling them to predict its likely path and potential landfall as early as possible. People who are in danger should have as much time as possible to decide whether to evacuate and to get their homes ready for wind and water.
Forecasters can use the data to determine when a new eyewall has developed in the storm’s center, which may be a sign that the hurricane is about to get stronger. Tang cites the National Hurricane Center’s forecasters, who used data from Defense Department satellites to see a circular eyewall form in Hurricane Erick earlier this month as it passed over the Pacific.
According to Tang, “that was a really good indication that the storm was about to intensify much more quickly than the computer models indicated it was going to intensify,” enabling forecasters to issue early warnings. The hurricane made landfall in Mexico as a powerful Category 3 storm.
Hurricane forecasts this year won’t be less accurate as a result of the Defense Department data loss, according to NOAA, which is in charge of the National Hurricane Center. “NOAA’s data sources are fully capable of providing a complete suite of cutting-edge data and models that ensure the gold-standard weather forecasting the American people deserve,” said UNA communications director Kim Doster in a statement. “.”.
According to Tang, comparable data is gathered by other satellites run by NASA, NOAA, and other nations. Hurricanes, however, develop and intensify so quickly that forecasters require information in near real-time, which necessitates the use of as many satellites as possible because no single sensor is ever directly aimed at a single storm. There will be greater lapses in forecasters’ knowledge of the current conditions within a storm if the Defense Department data is not available. As a result, forecasters might be taken aback if a hurricane suddenly gets stronger.
That is especially troubling because large, rapidly intensifying hurricanes are becoming more frequent as the Earth warms. Because there is little time for preparation and evacuation, storms that intensify rapidly just before they reach land are especially lethal.
A rush to continue sea ice monitoring.
The primary source of real-time data on sea ice changes was also the Defense Department’s satellites.
There are numerous reasons why sea ice data is significant. Because of climate change, the amount of permanent sea ice in the Arctic and Antarctic is rapidly decreasing, and its exact amount varies significantly throughout the year.
The amount of sea ice in the Arctic influences international shipping decisions in any given year or season because ships can travel shorter distances around the world when there is less sea ice surrounding the North Pole.
The Antarctic glaciers, which pose a threat to the planet through catastrophic sea level rise in the event of their collapse, are slowed in their melting by sea ice on the opposite end of the planet.
Six popular datasets about sea ice at both poles will now be disrupted due to the Defense Department’s decision, the National Snow and Ice Data Center said.
“For many years, we’ve been very dependent on these data,” says Serreze, the center’s director. He claims that he was informed by the Defense Department that the data would be unavailable after September. Then, the deadline was pushed back to June 30th this week.
“We were completely unprepared for this June 30 deadline,” Serreze says. To get things in order, we must sort of blitz here. “..”.
A sensor on a Japanese government-run satellite was already the alternative source of sea ice data that Serreze’s team had planned to use. The U. A. has access to information from that sensor thanks to a deal between NASA and the space agency of the Japanese government.
However, they believed they had months to make the switch, which necessitates a great deal of calibration work. They only have a few days left before they can no longer access the American data. “It’s a blow,” Serreze observes.
