TORUS Project

Last updated
TORUS Project
Targeted Observation by Radars and UAS of Supercells Project
FormationMay 16, 2019;6 years ago (2019-05-16)
DissolvedMay 16, 2023;2 years ago (2023-05-16)
Type Government–academic research organization
PurposeResearch on tornadoes
Headquarters University of Nebraska–Lincoln
Budget$2.4 million (USD)
Funding National Science Foundation and NOAA

The Targeted Observation by Radars and UAS of Supercells Project, often shorted to the TORUS Project or just TORUS, is a United States federal government funded meteorological field research project to study various aspects of tornadoes, thunderstorms, and supercells. [1]

Contents

The TORUS Project involved over 50 researches from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln (UNL), the National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL), the Office of Marine and Aviation Operations (OMAO), the University of Oklahoma (OU), the Cooperative Institute for Severe and High-Impact Weather Research and Operations (CIWRO), Texas Tech University (TTU), and the University of Colorado Boulder (CU). The TORUS Project was funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The TORUS Project covers over 367,000 square miles (950,000 km2), stretching from North Dakota to Texas. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]

Equipment

A NSSL Mobile Mesonet Truck team launching a weather balloon NSSL launching a weather balloon during the TORUS Project.jpg
A NSSL Mobile Mesonet Truck team launching a weather balloon

The TORUS Project used several different research equipment items: [1]

Project results

The results of the TORUS Project have been published in numerous academic papers, included several to the American Meteorological Society. [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] A drone in the TORUS program was featured in the trailer for Twisters. [16]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 National Severe Storms Laboratory. "NSSL Projects: TORUS: Targeted Observation by Radars and UAS of Supercells". National Weather Center, Norman, Oklahoma: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
  2. ↑ Fearon, Robin (13 December 2019). "Storm Research: Studying the Role of Extreme Weather in Our Planet's Climate". Discovery Channel . Warner Bros. Discovery Networks. Retrieved 10 March 2025.
  3. ↑ Pittenger, Todd. ""Hurricane Hunter" Takes Aim at Midwest". KSAL . Retrieved 10 March 2025.
  4. ↑ Henson, Bob. "Drones and a Hurricane Hunter Aircraft to Target Multiday Severe Weather Outbreak". Weather Underground . The Weather Company.
  5. ↑ "CU Boulder Engineering Collaborates To Study Tornadoes With Drones". CBS News . 2 May 2019.
  6. ↑ Freedman, Andrew (16 May 2019). "Researchers deploy drones, hurricane hunter to uncover tornado formation secrets". Axios . Retrieved 10 March 2025.
  7. ↑ "NOAA NOXP Mobile Radar". National Severe Storms Laboratory . National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Archived from the original on 23 March 2025. Retrieved 26 March 2025.
  8. ↑ Wilson, Matthew B.; Houston, Adam L.; Ziegler, Conrad L.; Stechman, Daniel M.; Argrow, Brian; Frew, Eric W.; Swenson, Sara; Rasmussen, Erik; Coniglio, Michael (December 2023). "Environmental and Storm-Scale Controls on Close Proximity Supercells Observed by TORUS on 8 June 2019". Monthly Weather Review . 151 (12): 3013–3035. Bibcode:2023MWRv..151.3013W. doi:10.1175/MWR-D-23-0002.1.
  9. ↑ Laser, Jordan J.; Coniglio, Michael C.; Skinner, Patrick S.; Smith, Elizabeth N. (October 2022). "Doppler Lidar and Mobile Radiosonde Observation-Based Evaluation of Warn-on-Forecast System Predicted Near-Supercell Environments during TORUS 2019" . Weather and Forecasting . 37 (10): 1783–1804. Bibcode:2022WtFor..37.1783L. doi:10.1175/WAF-D-21-0190.1.
  10. ↑ Axon, Kristen L.; Houston, Adam L.; Ziegler, Conrad L.; Weiss, Christopher C.; Rasmussen, Erik N.; Coniglio, Michael C.; Argrow, Brian; Frew, Eric; Swenson, Sara; Reinhart, Anthony E.; Wilson, Matthew B. (January 2024). "The Potential Roles of Preexisting Airmass Boundaries on a Tornadic Supercell Observed by TORUS on 28 May 2019". Monthly Weather Review . 152 (1): 97–121. Bibcode:2024MWRv..152...97A. doi:10.1175/MWR-D-23-0007.1.
  11. ↑ Saba, Robert A.; Coniglio, Michael C. (2024). "Examining Right-Moving Supercell Environments with Doppler Wind Lidar Observations". University of Oklahoma School of Meteorology Dissertations & Theses. 2024 (31761254): 1–116. ProQuest   3160269694 . Retrieved 12 March 2025.
  12. ↑ Diedrichsen, Madeline; Flournoy, Matthew; Rasmussen, Erik N. (2020). "Investigating Windsond Observations in Supercells" (PDF). Conference on Severe Local Storms. 100. American Meteorological Society: 94. Bibcode:2020AMS...10066187D . Retrieved 12 March 2025.
  13. ↑ Wagner, Melissa; Coniglio, Michael; Rasmussen, Erik; Satrio, Martin; Bodine, David; Candela, Dominic; Kennedy, Doug; Tirone, Elizabeth (6 December 2024). "Harnessing UAS and high-resolution satellite imagery to better characterize wind damage and understand tornado behavior". Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society . 106 (3): E492 –E508. doi: 10.1175/BAMS-D-23-0234.1 .
  14. ↑ Wilson, Matthew B. (2023). "Using Observations from Torus to Better Understand and Simulate the Evolution of Two Proximate Supercells on 8 June 2019". University of Nebraska–Lincoln Dissertations & Theses. 2023 (30487502). ProQuest   2809435376 . Retrieved 12 March 2025.
  15. ↑ Frew, Eric W.; Argrow, Brian; Borenstein, Steve; Swenson, Sara; Hirst, C. Alexander; Havenga, Henno; Houston, Adam (September 2020). "Field observation of tornadic supercells by multiple autonomous fixed-wing unmanned aircraft" . Journal of Field Robotics. 37 (6): 1077–1093. doi:10.1002/rob.21947.
  16. ↑ "Blockbuster science: Storm-chasing drone appears in 'Twisters' | CU Boulder Today | University of Colorado Boulder". www.colorado.edu. Retrieved 2025-03-12.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.