Detecting Tornadoes

May 13, 2010 from Climate Central

While most people would do anything to stay away from tornadoes, some scientists seek out these storms. Scientists are assisted by a nationwide network of Doppler radars, which are powerful tools for monitoring severe thunderstorms and tornadoes. These radars allow scientists to visualize the winds within the storm, and by using those winds they provide forecasters with advance warning. Smaller, portable Doppler radars are currently being used in a field project called Vortex 2. During the 2009 and 2010 tornado seasons, Vortex 2 has been tasked with seeking out tornadoes in "tornado alley". Vortex 2 scientists intend to collect the most complete three-dimensional pictures of tornadoes that have ever been generated. The results of this project may result in a better understanding of how tornadoes develop, which could lead to better short-term tornado forecasts and warnings. Additional study is needed to determine if a warming climate may lead to more tornadoes, or causes a change in where and when tornadoes appear. CREDITS: Mike Coniglio, NSSL; NOAA; Dave Lewellen, National Science Foundation

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VORTEX projects

The Verification of the Origins of Rotation in Tornadoes Experiment or VORTEX, field projects study tornadoes. VORTEX1 was the first time scientists completely researched the entire evolution of a tornado, enabling a greater understanding of the processes involved with tornado... Explore this topic

Tornado

A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. They are often referred to as twisters or cyclones, although the word cyclone is used in meteorology, ... Explore this topic

Doppler radar

A Doppler radar is a specialized radar that makes use of the Doppler effect to produce velocity data about objects at a distance. It does this by beaming a microwave signal towards a desired target and listening for its reflection, then analyzing how the frequency of the retur... Explore this topic

Thunderstorm

A thunderstorm, also known as an electrical storm, a lightning storm, thundershower or simply a storm, is a form of turbulent weather characterized by the presence of lightning and its acoustic effect on the Earth's atmosphere known as thunder. The meteorologically assigned cl... Explore this topic

Science

Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. In an older and closely related meaning, "science" also refers to a body of knowledge itself, of the type that can be rationally expl... Explore this topic

NOAA

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is a scientific agency within the United States Department of Commerce focused on the conditions of the oceans and the atmosphere. NOAA warns of dangerous weather, charts seas and skies, guides the use and protection of ocean... Explore this topic

National Science Foundation

The National Science Foundation is a United States government agency that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National Institutes of Health. With an annual budget of about US$7.0 b... Explore this topic

Radar

Radar is an object detection system which uses radio waves to determine the range, altitude, direction, or speed of objects. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, weather formations, and terrain. The radar dish or antenna transm... Explore this topic

Climate Central

Climate Central is a nonprofit news organization that analyzes and reports on climate science. Composed of scientists and science journalists, the organization conducts scientific research on climate change and energy issues, and produces multimedia content that is distributed... Explore this topic

Scientist

A scientist, in a broad sense, is one engaging in a systematic activity to acquire knowledge. In a more restricted sense, a scientist is an individual who uses the scientific method. The person may be an expert in one or more areas of science. This article focuses on the more ... Explore this topic

Also See

VORTEX projects

Tornado

Doppler radar

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