earth science

National Hurricane Research Project

National Hurricane Research Project is a earth science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand National Hurricane Research Project rather than just read about it. In short: The National Hurricane Research Project (NHRP) was initiated in 1955 by the United States Weather Bureau in response to the devastating 1954 hurricane season, which saw hurricanes Carol, Edna, and Hazel bring destruction and flooding to New England and the Mid-Atlantic States. Robert Simpson, a Weather Bureau meteorologist who had participated in Air Force hurricane reconnaissance flights as an observer, was appoint…

Key takeaways

National Hurricane Research Project belongs to earth science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect National Hurricane Research Project to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of National Hurricane Research Project from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The National Hurricane Research Project (NHRP) was initiated in 1955 by the United States Weather Bureau in response to the devastating 1954 hurricane season, which saw hurricanes Carol, Edna, and Hazel bring destruction and flooding to New England and the Mid-Atlantic States. Robert Simpson, a Weather Bureau meteorologist who had participated in Air Force hurricane reconnaissance flights as an observer, was appointed as the first director of NHRP and organized the Research Operations Base at Morrison Air Force Base (now Palm Beach International Airport) in West Palm Beach, FL in 1956.

Description During the first three years of the Project, scientists used three specially instrumented Air Force Hurricane Hunters aircraft with crews on bailment from the 55th Weather Reconnaissance Squadron. They flew missions into hurricanes Greta (1956), Audrey (1957), Daisy (1958), and Helene (1958) in this initial period, collecting data which delineated the structure and energy budget of hurricanes for the first time. In 1959, the Project was moved to Miami and collocated with the Miami hurricane forecast office. Simpson left the Project to complete his doctoral degree and Robert Cecil Gentry was appointed NHRP director. The Department of Commerce leased two Douglas DC-6 aircraft and received a Martin B-57 Canberra jet from the Air Force so that NHRP could continue to carry out airborne experiments on hurricanes. The combination of research project, forecast center, and aircraft facility was dubbed the "National Hurricane Center" (NHC). This has caused later confusion, since 1967 the NHC name has been used exclusively by the forecast center. However the Project and Research Flight Facility (RFF) remained separate entities, with their own personnel, budgets, and objectives. During the 1960s, while NHRP continued to carry out research flights into hurricanes Donna (1960), Cleo (1964), and Betsy (1965), the Project also began to create computer models of hurricane circulation, formulated a statistical track program (NHC-64), wrote a manual on hurricane forecasting, and evaluate the accuracy of track forecasts. Starting with Hurricane Esther (1961), NHRP was heavily involved with Project Stormfury, the U. S. Government's experiment in hurricane modification. They seeded hurricane Beulah in 1963, but had to wait six more years before a suitable candidate storm entered their operational area. Late in 1964, the Project was renamed the National Hurricane Research Laboratory in recognition of it becoming a permanent institution within the Weather Bureau. This presaged the creation of the Environmental Research Laboratories the next year.

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with National Hurricane Research Project

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what National Hurricane Research Project claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In earth science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to National Hurricane Research Project before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about National Hurricane Research Project ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of National Hurricane Research Project

In research: National Hurricane Research Project appears in earth science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses National Hurricane Research Project in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: National Hurricane Research Project is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics National Weather Service, Tropical cyclones, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for National Hurricane Research Project outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study National Hurricane Research Project in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what National Hurricane Research Project means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain National Hurricane Research Project out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is National Hurricane Research Project in simple terms?

Why does National Hurricane Research Project matter?

Because it connects several earth science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study National Hurricane Research Project?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on National Hurricane Research Project.