Fieldwork across U.S. supports INCUS satellite mission to study severe storms

Researchers with the Department of Atmospheric Science at Colorado State University are conducting a series of field campaigns to prepare for NASA’s upcoming INCUS satellite mission into weather formation.

INCUS will use three small satellites to measure vertical air motion inside storms from space. That process is key to severe weather formation, including heavy rain and damaging winds. Recent field campaigns by the Calibration and Validation team in Colorado, Alabama and Oklahoma tested weather forecasting systems in various configurations, combinations and conditions to collect information on how a storm’s vertical air motion and inner structure change over time. The pre-mission work builds understanding of severe storm dynamics and improves radar tracking algorithms ahead of launch – ensuring the unique, top-down data eventually collected by the team of satellites is accurate.

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