A new approach in hurricanes monitoring

On 15 December, NASA has launched a constellation of 8 microsatellites – Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System (CYGNSS). The launch took place from the US Air Force Base at Cape Canaveral. Microsatellites were carried to low-Earth orbit 500 km above the Earth. CYGNSS is funded by NASA and its main developers are the University of Michigan and the Southwest Research Institute (SWRI).

The CYGNSS is designed to study the most active parts of the hurricane in tropical areas by accurately measuring the speed of ocean surface winds inside and near the eye of the storm. CYGNSS is based on bistatic skatterometry using a GPS signal. Each microsatellite receives GPS satellite signals indicating the microsatellite position along with a time reference and a reflected signal from the surface of the Earth providing information about the surface of the ocean. The turbulence of the ocean surface is indicative of the wind speed. The CYGNSS will circulate in such an orbit to allow measurements only in the tropical zone where most hurricanes are generated. Using 8 microsatellites in a constellation gives an average revisit time of 7 hours for a given area in this zone. As a result, CYGNSS will be able to gather much more data for the tropics while maintaining observational continuity.

The CYGNSS mission presents a modern approach to hurricane monitoring that reduces costs and enables more data to be collected than with the use of current methods. In addition to the research aspect, the CYGNSS constellation is intended to support decision-making and operational activities of crisis management units and to provide more accurate forecasts of damages in the event of a hurricane. Data obtained from the CYGNSS constellation will be provided by NOAA.

Source: https://www.nasa.gov/cygnss

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