OU researchers are using data collected from Hurricane Irene to learn how to forecast weather more accurately.

A team of OU researchers left Norman two weeks ago for Beaufort, N.C., where they set up new types of radar machines to gather information about the storm, researcher and meteorology professor Michael Biggerstaff said.

One of the things the team observed were formations of miniature thunderstorms at the beginning of the storm, which is typically seen in Oklahoma, not North Carolina, Biggerstaff said. This was the first time researchers were equipped with the proper tools to understand how these storms form.

“We should be able to study the mechanisms that created these tornado-scale circulations,” Biggerstaff said. “These types of tornadoes have been observed but never with the temporal resolution needed to study their formation and demise.”

The new radar making this possible is called a rapid-scanning X-band dual-polarimetric radar (RaXPOL), according to a press release. This is the first time this technology has been used during a storm.

The technology works by scanning the atmosphere in 30 seconds at a certain frequency, Biggerstaff said. Because of the speed of the radar, which was about five to six times faster than other technologies they use, the team collected valuable data about how these storms formed.

The team also used the Shared Mobile Atmospheric Research and Teaching radar that operated at another frequency, Biggerstaff said.

They also pulled data from the National Weather Service radar that works at a third frequency.

“The unique combination of … measurements should allow development of novel retrievals of raindrop sizes that is needed to better estimate rain and improve flood forecasting,” he said.

Scientists will use this data to improve rainfall estimates and forecasts of flash floods, according to a press release.

“As you may know, flooding after landfall is one of the biggest concerns for deaths related to hurricanes in the U.S.,” Biggerstaff said. “Irene certainly showed that to be true once again.”

Another device used during the storm was a mobile weather station mounted on top of a minivan, called a mobile mesonet, he said. These machines helped measure wind speeds more accurately.

“We observed other chaser vehicles during Irene with relatively poorly designed measurement systems that wound up reporting wind speeds that were not valid,” Biggerstaff said.

Researchers will spend the next few years studying the data collected from Irene and applying it to other storms, he said.

The group may deploy again if a storm in the Gulf of Mexico makes land this hurricane season.

OU is part of a Digital Hurricane Consortium, which is a collection of universities and research organizations that shares information about storms, according to a press release. Irene was the first group effort of the consortium.