high quality assessments of the current tropical cyclone position,

intensity and size. Tropical cyclones, by nature, form and develop

over relatively data sparse regions of the subtropical oceans.

The National Hurricane Center has responsibilities for issuing

advisories on all tropical cyclones in the North Atlantic and

Northeast Pacific Oceans. This presentation will review the

observational network available to our forecasters today for monitoring

these cyclones and the tools/techniques used in making position,

intensity and size assessments. The paper will also briefly

discuss how our operational network may change in the near future -

both with possible new instruments such as Unmanned Aircraft Systems,

but also with probable losses of some polar satellite imagery

capabilities.