Project Background:
‍Sofar and its collaborators in the National Oceanographic Partnership Program (NOPP) Hurricane Coastal Impacts Project (NHCI) airdrop fleets of Spotter buoys ahead of hurricanes in the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico. The Spotters make direct, real-time observations at scale of the extreme conditions generated by storms. This data enhances the government and coastal communities' efforts to understand, predict, and prepare for hurricanes.

On Wednesday, September 11th, five Spotters airdropped in the Gulf of Mexico collected and transmitted direct, real-time observations of the extreme conditions generated by Hurricane Francine. The Spotters, which were deployed on Tuesday, September 10th, passed near the Category 2 hurricane shortly before it made landfall in Louisiana.

Below, we overlay NASA/NOAA GOES-16 satellite imagery of Hurricane Francine with the drift tracks of each airdropped Spotter (yellow pentagons). Watch as the Spotters move westward towards the intensifying hurricane before it reaches the Gulf Coast.

SPOT-31983C (easternmost buoy) passed particularly close to Hurricane Francine, observing significant wave heights of approximately 20 feet. That translates to maximum wave heights of approximately 40 feet. Ground truth observations like these are extremely rare and highly valued by forecasters and coastal communities tasked with predicting and preparing for extreme storms.

Visit our interactive Weather Dashboard on a laptop / desktop computer to view each airdropped Spotter’s current position and latest observations.

On Tuesday, September 10th, the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory Scientific Development Squadron VXS-1 airdropped five Spotter buoys, along with microSWIFTs and A-DWSDs, in the path of Hurricane Francine in the Gulf of Mexico. The Spotters will drift freely in the Gulf and sample the extreme conditions generated by Hurricane Francine in real-time as it approaches the coast.

The ground truth data collected by the Spotters will provide unique insights about the actual conditions generated by Hurricane Francine before it makes landfall. These in situ observations will enhance efforts to understand, forecast, and prepare for the storm.

Hurricane Francine is currently a Category 1 storm and is expected to make landfall in Louisiana on Wednesday, September 11th. The storm is forecasted to bring dangerous winds, rainfall, storm surge, and flooding to the Gulf Coast region.

Visit our interactive Weather Dashboard on a laptop / desktop computer to view each airdropped Spotter’s current position and latest observations.