Hurricane Science

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RUCOOL Hurricane Science Team

The RUCOOL Hurricane Science Team develops and uses advanced observing technologies and models to better understand coupled ocean-atmospheric processes in hurricanes and typhoons.

Travis Miles
Associate Professor
Josh Kohut
Professor & Co-Founder
Scott Glenn
Distinguished Professor, Board of Governors Professor, Co-Director RUCOOL
Oscar Schofield
Distinguished Professor and Department Chair
Michael Smith
Data Analyst and Programmer
Lori Garzio
Research Analyst
Joseph Gradone
Julia Engdahl
Laboratory Researcher | Graduate Student
Leah Hopson

A Growing Need for Hurricane Science

Hurricanes, typhoons & tropical cyclones are among the most destructive natural events on Earth. In the U.S. alone:
  • U.S. hurricane damages since 1980 are approaching One Trillion Dollars, more than all other weather and climate disasters combined.
  • U.S. hurricane related deaths since 1980 exceed 6,500 people, more than any other category of weather or climate disaster.
  • U.S. states and territories impacted by North Atlantic hurricanes represent nearly half the U.S. population (U.S. Census Bureau).
  • Hurricanes have become more severe over the last 40 years.
  • The baseline sea level for hurricane storm surge is rising.
Continued advances in hurricane science, leading to increased forecast accuracy and lead times, is required to promote more timely and effective hurricane responses that save lives, property and livelihoods.

RUCOOL Contributions

Improving hurricane forecasts is a broad collaborative effort that crosses government agencies, industry sectors, and academic fields. Our focus at RUCOOL is on improved understanding of the rapid co-evolution of the ocean and atmosphere as hurricanes approach landfall. A key observational component supporting both research needs and operational forecasting has been establishing the Hurricane Glider Picket Lines in the U.S. IOOS regions impacted by the landfalling hurricanes.

Science Resources

Le Hénaff, M., Domingues, R., Halliwell, G., Zhang, J. A., Kim, H.-S., Aristizabal, M., Miles, T., Glenn, S., Goni, G. (2021). The role of the Gulf of Mexico ocean conditions in the intensification of Hurricane Michael (2018). Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 126, e2020JC016969

Vargas, M. A., Miles, T., Glenn, S., Hogan, P., Wilson, W. D., Watlington, R., & LaCour, B. (2019, October). Impact of Glider Data Assimilation on the Global Ocean Forecasting System during the 2018 Hurricane Season. In OCEANS 2019 MTS/IEEE SEATTLE (pp. 1-5). IEEE. DOI:10.23919/OCEANS40490.2019.8962824

Miles, T., Seroka, G. and Glenn, S. 2017. Coastal ocean circulation during Hurricane Sandy. Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans Volume 122, Issue 9, September 2017, Pages 7095-7114. doi:10.1002/2017JC013031.

Seroka, G., Miles, T., Xu, Y., Kohut, J., Schofield, O., Glenn, S. 2017. Rapid shelf-wide cooling response of a stratified coastal ocean to hurricanes. Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans Volume 122, Issue 6, June 2017, Pages 4845-4867, doi: 10.1002/2017JC012756.

Seroka, G., Miles, T., Xu, Y., Kohut, J., Schofield, O., Glenn, S. 2016. Hurricane Irene Sensitivity to Stratified Coastal Ocean Coling. American Meteorological Society, Monthly Weather Review, September 2016, Rev., 144, 3507–3530 doi: 10.1175/MWR-D-15-0452.1.

Glenn, S.M., Miles, T.N., Seroka, G.N., Xu, Y., Forney, R.K., Yu, F., Roarty, H., Schofield, O., Kohut, J. 2016. Stratified coastal ocean interactions with tropical cyclones. Nature Communications, volume 7, Article number: 10887, Published: 08 March 2016. doi: 10.1038/ncomms10887

Miles, T., Seroka, G., Kohut J., Schofield O., Glenn S. 2015. Glider observations and modeling of sediment transport in Hurricane Sandy. Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, Volume 120, Issue 3, March 2015, Pages 1771-1791. doi:10.1002/2014JC010474.

Scott Glenn et al. 2013. Process Driven Improvements to Hurricane Intensity and Storm Surge Forecasts in the Mid-Atlantic Bight: Lessons Learned from Hurricanes Irene and Sandy. Marine Technology Society 2013.

Glenn, S., Schofield, O., Kohut, J., Bowers, L., Crowley, M., Dunk, R., Kerfoot, J., Miles, T., Palamara, L., Roarty, H., Seroka, G., Yi Xu, Titlow, J., Brown, W., Boicourt, W., Atkinson, L., Seim, H. 2012. Impact of ocean observations on hurricane forecasts in the Mid-Atlantic: Forecasting lessons learned from Hurricane Irene IEEE Oceans, vol., no., pp.1,5, 14-19 Oct. 2012. doi: 10.1109/OCEANS.2012.6404929.

Glenn, S. M., Jones, C., Twardowski, M., Bowers, L., Kerfoot, J., Kohut, J., Webb, D., Schofield , O. 2008. Glider observations of sediment resuspension in a Middle Atlantic Bight Fall Transition Storm. Limnology and Oceanography 53(5, Part 2): 2180-2196. doi: 10.2307/40058377.

Josh T. Kohut, Scott M. Glenn, Jeffrey D. Paduan. 2006. Inner shelf response to Tropical Storm Floyd. Journal of Geophysical Research, Volume 111, Issue C9, September 2006. doi:10.1029/2003JC002173.

GOMO Hurricane Meeting | Jan 26, 2021
Scott Glenn The Value of Coordinated Observations: Hurricane Gliders
UG2 Welcome Seminar | Dec 9, 2020
Travis Miles Hurricane Gliders
Oceanography House | Oct 19, 2020
Scott Glenn Scientific Results from the 2018 & 2019 North Atlantic Hurricane Glider Picket Lines
1st UFS Users Workshop | July 28, 2020
Travis Miles, Hernan Arango, John Wilkin A Coupled Atmosphere-Ocean Modeling Framework for the Regional Ocean Modeling System
NOAA Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR) Global Ocean Monitoring and Observation (GOMO) program Hurricane Steering Committee | June 2, 2020
Scott Glenn Rapid Co-evolution of the Coastal Ocean and Atmosphere in Hurricanes and Typhoons
MARACOOS brief for congressional staff | April 30, 2020
Scott Glenn MARACOOS Congressional Briefing
Appropriations Supplemental Funds (IFAA) 2019-2020 Hurricane Gliders Workshop | April 28, 2020
Travis Miles & Catherine Edwards Hurricane Gliders: Improving Tropical Storm Intensity Forecasts with Real Time Data
Travis Miles Mid Atlantic Bight: Summary of 2019 Glider Operations
Travis Miles Planned 2020 Mid Atlantic IFAA hurricane glider operations
Scott Glenn Mid Atlantic Bight: Stratified Coastal Ocean Interactions with Tropical Cyclones
SECOORA Webinar with Catherine Edwards | April 27, 2020
Travis Miles Improving Hurricane Intensity Forecasts with Gliders
AGU Ocean Sciences – San Diego, CA | February 16-21, 2020
Scott Glenn Scientific Results from the 2018 & 2019 North Atlantic Hurricane Glider Picket Lines
Maria Aristizabal Evaluation of Surface Ocean Metrics Relevant to Air/Sea Heat Fluxes in the HWRF-POM and HWRF-HYCOM Forecasing Models During Hurricane Dorian
Rutgers Department of Environmental Sciences Seminar | November 8th, 2019
Travis Miles Stratified coastal ocean interactions with tropical cyclones: How new technology is changing the way we study coastal storms
Hydromet Meeting, Bridgeton, Barbados | November 7th, 2019
Oscar Schofield The development of ocean observing networks in support of Hurricane prediction
EGO/UG2 8th EGO Meeting and International Glider Workshop, Rutgers University, NJ | May 21st – 23rd, 2019
Scott Glenn Ocean Gliders in Tropical Cyclone Forecasting
Maria Aristizabal Impact of Glider Data Assimilation on Operational Ocean Models During the 2018 Hurricane Season
MARACOOS Annual Meeting, Baltimore, MD | May 14, 2019
Scott Glenn, Travis Miles, Maria Aristizabal + Many Hurricane Glider Update
2019 NOAA – Silver Spring, Washington, D.C. | April 22, 2019
Scott Glenn Hurricane Glider Update
Naval Research Laboratory, Stennis, Mississippi | March 19, 2019
Scott Glenn, Travis Miles, Maria Aristizabal + Many Hurricane Sentinel Glider Fleet: 2018 Initial Results
Center for Scientific Research and Higher Education, Ensenada, Mexico | January 23, 2019
Scott Glenn Leveraging Hurricane Expertise – MARACOOS/IOOS/OAR Hurricane Initiative
More Hurricane Presentations

Data and Visualization Resources

IOOS Model Evaluations

Data and Visualization Links

Hurricane Communication Resources

Hurricane Videos