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David M.'s avatar

Thank you. I enjoy reading your posts. Your article arrived in my email about the same time as this NASA press-release for <https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-scientists-available-for-2022-hurricane-season-interviews>. I wonder sometimes if we exist in two realities simultaneously? Quoting from the NASA release...

“Along with millions of Americans, I know firsthand the devastation caused by hurricanes. These climate-related events are growing more frequent and powerful, underscoring the need for greater action to improve our nation’s response and resilience to hurricanes,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. “Addressing and mitigating the effects of climate change like hurricanes are at the core of NASA’s mission. From the agency’s upcoming TROPICS mission that will help scientists understand the factors driving storm intensification and contribute to weather forecasting models, to the creation of the Earth Information Center to ensure game-changing NASA climate data is accessible and understandable to decision-makers, NASA will continue to help communities better prepare for and recover from these weather events.”

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Robert Benson's avatar

Thanks for your thoughful and even handed presentation of data. I attended a conference where a group of ex NASA scientists who had been heavily involved in tracking hurricanes and other weather data for the space program. They discussed the fact that until there was radar tracking by aircraft and then satellites a lot of the smaller tropical storms (hurricanes) were not reported unless a ship were in the area. There was also a range issue with the aircraft monitored tracking (The US aircraft only had enough fuel to go ~ 1/2 way over the Atlantic. They showed data that compared before and after years, the amount of small storms and the tracks of storms across the Atlantic. They made a very compelling case that before satellite tracking the Eastern Atlantic probably had a large number of storms which were not counted. They showed a map of a year in the 20s or 30s that showed almost zero storms counted that were beyond the aircraft range, and they compared that to a post satellite year that showed a large number of small hurricanes in that Eastern Atlantic area. Could you please comment on that observation.

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