Satellites to support NASA's hurricane research

NASA contracted the Spanish HISPASAT Group, to which the Spanish satellite telecommunications operator HISPASAT and the Brazilian operator HISPAMAR both belong, to provide satellite communications in support of the Hurricane and Severe Storm Sentinel HS3 mission, using the Amazonas 2 satellite and NASA´s Global Hawk UAVs. This mission is specifically targeted to investigate the processes of underlying hurricane formation and intensity change in the Atlantic Ocean basin.

The HS3 mission investigates the relative roles of large-scale environment and storm-scale internal processes. HS3 addresses the role of the Saharan Air Layer in tropical storm formation and intensification, as well as the role of deep convection in the inner-core region of storms.