The Intensity Forecasting Experiment (IFEX): A NOAA multi-year field program for improving tropical cyclone intensity forecasting

NOAA's Hurricane Research Division began in 2005 a multi-year experiment with the NOAA Aircraft Operations Center (AOC) called the Intensity Forecasting Experiment (IFEX). Developed in partnership with NOAA's Environmental Modeling Center (EMC) and National Hurricane Center (NHC), IFEX is intended to improve the prediction of hurricane intensity change by 1) providing observations of current tropical cyclone intensity and structure; 2) providing data to improve the operational numerical modeling system (i.e., HWRF); and 3) improving our understanding of the physics of intensity change and rainfall. Observations are collected in a variety of hurricanes at different stages in their lifecycle, from formation and early organization to peak intensity and subsequent landfall or decay over open water. In July 2005, IFEX partnered with NASA during their Tropical Cloud Systems and Processes (TCSP) experiment, based in San Jose, Costa Rica. A variety of systems were flown with the NOAA P-3's and NASA ER-2 in coordination for a sizable portion of the systems' lifecycle, including Hurricane Dennis from tropical storm to landfall, Tropical Storm Gert from tropical disturbance to tropical storm strength, and a null case in the Eastern Pacific. A summary of these flights, including how they will satisfy the IFEX objectives, will be presented.