A team of experts from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and University of Notre Dame has arrived in Sri Lanka to conduct a research study in the island’s upper atmosphere.
The team of NOAA’s Hurricane Hunters arrived in a specially equipped U.S. Air Force C130 aircraft Friday night (15) to study disturbances and changes in the upper atmosphere over the island.
The NOAA hurricane Hunters will join the Sri Lankan scientists in the field of climate science to conduct the research study to predict monsoon patterns, the Civil Aviation Authority says. The research will be carried out for nearly 10 days.
The technical unit of this pilot project is led by Professor Harindra Fernando in the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering & Earth Sciences at the University of Notre Dame.
The researchers at the University of Notre Dame have launched a five-year study to measure oceanic and atmospheric conditions and flow patterns of monsoons across the Indian Ocean, in particular, the Bay of Bengal, to help improve predictive models.
Notre Dame University has signed a five-year memorandum of understanding with the government of Sri Lanka, which will be a main hub of the measurement program.
As part of the study, researchers will deploy a number of sophisticated instruments from research ships and an aircraft to measure the ocean and atmospheric properties over two monsoon cycles.
Sri Lanka is one of the more vulnerable countries in the world for climate change according to environmental scientists. Sri Lanka has faced severe droughts and floods in recent years.
