Largest High-Tech Tornado Chase Set To Begin 112
coondoggie writes "Next month, with the help of a variety of high-tech gear, researchers will begin a wide-ranging project to better understand the origin, structure and evolution of tornadoes. The National Science Foundation has given $9.1 million to the project called Vortex2 (of course it has a convoluted backronym), which will take place from May 10-June 13. Researchers say Vortex2 is the largest attempt in history to study tornadoes, and will involve more than 50 scientists, 40 research vehicles, and 10 mobile radars, and will cover 900 square miles in southern South Dakota, western Iowa, eastern Colorado, Nebraska, Kansas, the Texas panhandle, and western Oklahoma."
Watch for landspouts too (Score:5, Interesting)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZN2_czSBSD0&NR=1
Watch it all the way through. From 2:10 to the end is breathtaking.
TIV (Score:5, Interesting)
Unless the Tornado Intercept Vehicle is part of the team, it's just a bunch of pansies chasing wind.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tornado_Intercept_Vehicle [wikipedia.org]
Seismometers? (Score:3, Interesting)
BTW, the Blue Ash tornado they mention actually woke me up. I remember hearing a train-like sound and thinking "I hope that's not a tornado. I don't want to sleep in the bathtub." Turns out the sucker must have been descending as it went over me. Touched down about a mile away, but the path points right back to where I lived.
Hardcore Tornado Pr0n! (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Use a tank (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Dorthy? (Score:2, Interesting)