NASA’s Hurricane and Severe Storm Sentinel Mission (HS3) is based on Wallops Island, near the Assateague Island National Seashore off the coast of Virginia. The project mission is to gain information that can lead to better hurricane prediction. This photo-documentary follows a group of researchers (including three from UW-Madison) and project participants as the Global Hawk drone takes off and flies to meet Hurricane Edouard as it is forming over North Africa in 2014. The goal is to gather data that researchers hope will help them learn more about what makes hurricanes escalate in strength and severity. Across this narrative, several themes emerge, most notably the importance of collaboration and creativity along with the knowledge each person brings to their work, whether they are a meteorologist running an experiment, project manager, flight director, drone pilot, or other team member. The political complexities of using a drone are also touched on, while a powerful opening chapter introducing a 13-year-old girl who died in Hurricane Sandy emphasizes the human cost of these powerful storms and the importance of research. (Age 10 and older)

With stunning photos, detailed maps, and infographics, Amy Cherrix takes readers on a trip into the eye of the storm of hurricane danger zones as she chronicles a team of daring NASA scientists looking to discover the future of the hurricane forecast.

Ten million Americans live in hurricane danger zones, but how do we know if or when to evacuate? We must predict both when a storm will strike and how strong it will be. A daring NASA earth science mission may have finally found a way to crack this hurricane code.

Dr. Scott Braun is the principal investigator for the Hurricane and Severe Storm Sentinel mission (HS3), which flies repurposed military drone over hurricanes so that scientists can gather data. But the stakes are high and time is running out.

In the first Scientists in the Field book entirely about weather, meet the NASA team on the cutting edge of meteorological field science.