Reconnaissance Flight Research Articles

QuickOSSE Research on the Impact of Airship-Borne Doppler Radar Radial Winds to Predict the Track and Intensity of a Tropical Cyclone

Different from the aircraft TC reconnaissance flight missions before, a tropical cyclone (TC) field campaign project with a Doppler radar equipped on an airship that could hang over on the top of a TC (about 20 km) has been recently carried out in China. To understand the impact of airship-borne radar radial wind observations in TC forecasting, this work conducted quick observation simulation system experiments (QuickOSSE) by assimilating simulated airship-borne Doppler radar radial winds with an Ensemble Kalman Filter (EnKF) algorithm. The results show that airship-borne radial winds assimilation reproduces the forecasted track and minimum sea level pressure of the nature run. The forecast of dynamic and thermodynamic TC structures, such as tangential wind, secondary circulation, and warm core, are also improved. In addition, two determining factors, the radar depression angle (D-ang) and the distance from the airship to the TC center (DIS), are found to primarily affect the forecast of the TC track and intensity, respectively. Benefiting from a larger horizontal coverage, observations under a smaller D-ang improved the track more significantly. Meanwhile, the intensity forecast error with a DIS around the radius of the maximum wind is the smallest among several sensitive experiments, which may because the peak-velocity winds representing the TC’s intensity could be observed by radar. The results are expected to help establish an observational strategy for upcoming airship flight missions in practice.

Sweep-Your-Map: Efficient Coverage Planning for Aerial Teams in Large-Scale Environments

The efficiency of path-planning in robot navigation is crucial in tasks such as search-and-rescue and disaster surveying, but this is emphasized even more when considering multi-rotor aerial robots due to the limited battery and flight time. In this spirit, this work proposes an efficient, hierarchical planner to achieve comprehensive visual coverage of large-scale outdoor scenarios for small drones. Following an initial reconnaissance flight, a coarse map of the scene gets built in real-time. Then, regions of the map that were not appropriately observed are identified and grouped by a novel perception-aware clustering process that enables the generation of continuous trajectories ( <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">sweeps</i> ) to cover them efficiently. Thanks to this partitioning of the map into a set of tasks, we can generalize the planning to an arbitrary number of drones and perform a well-balanced workload distribution among them. We compare our approach against a state-of-the-art method for exploration and show the advantages of our pipeline in terms of efficiency for obtaining coverage in large environments.

The characterization and impact of Aeolus wind profile observations in NOAA's regional tropical cyclone model (HWRF)

AbstractObservation system experiments (OSEs) are conducted to assess the potential impacts of horizontal line‐of‐sight wind profile observations from the Aeolus satellite on tropical cyclone (TC) forecasting. The OSEs utilize the operational Hurricane Weather and Research Forecasting (HWRF) model. The OSEs include 226 forecasts from seven TC cases in the Atlantic and Eastern Pacific basins. Comparisons between Aeolus and model background winds show that winds from Aeolus are consistently stronger than those from HWRF. Data assimilation statistics also demonstrate that the greatest potential impacts from the assimilation of Aeolus observations are likely to occur in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere and within approximately 500 km from the TC centre. For TC forecasting applications, the assimilation of Aeolus observations improves TC intensity and size forecasts in the Eastern Pacific basin, while the results for track forecasts and results from the Atlantic basin are mixed. However, in both basins, the largest and most statistically significant, positive impacts from the assimilation of Aeolus observations occur when reconnaissance flight data are unavailable and during the early stages of TC development. The traditionally used forecast assessments of TC intensity, track and size are rooted in surface‐based metrics, and an additional investigation above the surface demonstrated larger improvements from assimilating Aeolus observations on TC wind structure above 400 hPa as compared to the lower troposphere. Several, different assessments throughout this study demonstrate higher uncertainty and the need for special consideration associated with assimilation techniques within 500 km from the TC centre.

Simulating Dropsondes to Assess Moist Static Energy Variability in Tropical Cyclones

AbstractInteractions between clouds, water vapor, radiation, and circulation influence tropical cyclone (TC) development. Many of these interactions can be quantified by understanding tendencies of the spatial variance of moist static energy (MSE). Dropsondes from aircraft reconnaissance sample profiles needed to compute MSE at fine vertical resolution, and may be useful in analyzing these feedbacks on TCs in situ. However, dropsondes are spatially sparse, and sample limited column depths depending on the type of reconnaissance mission. We use idealized convection‐permitting simulations to examine how MSE variability, and the feedbacks that influence it, are resolved using selected patterns of grid points meant to resemble dropsonde launch points in reconnaissance flight patterns. We first examine the column depth necessary to capture the MSE variability of the full atmosphere. We then study how these simulated flight patterns depict MSE variance and its relevant diabatic feedbacks in TCs of varying structure and intensity.

Repurposing open‐source data from weather radars to reduce the costs of aerial waterbird surveys

Abstract Aerial counts are the primary means of monitoring waterbird populations. A valid population assessment requires a significant proportion of the population to be surveyed. For broad‐ranging species, this requires costly reconnaissance flights and surveys over large areas of potential habitat. Here, we assess whether free, autonomously collected weather radar reflectivity data can identify waterbird aggregations over broad areas of potential habitat, thereby providing a low‐cost means of directing the timing and location of aerial survey counts. Our study was undertaken over a large flood plain known to be a key seasonal nesting area of the Magpie Goose (Anseranas semipalmata). A standardized aerial survey technique was employed, firstly using reconnaissance flights to determine when the birds were nesting and then 400‐m wide transects 3 km apart over approximately 1100 km, visually counting the geese. Radar reflectivity data from an operational weather radar in Darwin, Australia, 2 weeks prior to and during the aerial survey, were processed to link averaged radar reflectivity to terrestrial habitat at a spatial polar resolution of 250 m × 0.5°. A binary classification approach evaluated the accuracy, precision, sensitivity and specificity of reflectivity data in identifying areas where the aerial surveys recorded geese. Aerial surveys of Magpie Geese are most effective when the geese are nesting, which is usually identified by reconnaissance flights. Here, we show nesting correlated with a decline in radar reflectivity and a concentration of hotspots. By achieving reasonable accuracy and precision (77% and 67%, respectively), the weather radar reflectivity identified high aggregations of Magpie Geese and demonstrated high efficacy when identifying areas where Magpie Geese did not occur (specificity, 94%). We conclude that using weather radar data to guide aerial survey timing would reduce reconnaissance flight needs, and enable aerial surveys to focus on areas with a large proportion of the target waterbird population.

Interpretation and Identification of Unexploded Aircraft Ammunition Sites from Reconnaissance Flight Images

This article describes the optimal work sequence for the interpretation and identification of unexploded aircraft ammunition sites from reconnaissance flight images of the area bombed during World War II. The described activities are based on a number of previous actions that were carried out within the framework of the MVČR security research project entitled "The search for unexploded aircraft ammunition from World War II". Two sites in the Czech Republic were selected for the project solution, which are among the most affected ones by the World War II bombing. With regard to the current knowledge and experience of the research team, a procedure of activities was suggested in order to secure the optimal quality of the results of interpretation and identification of the sites where unexploded aircraft ammunition can be found. The results may be affected by the frequency and quality of reconnaissance flight images and the information on the used aircraft ammunition. The quality of the results also depends on the quality of previous work in the creation of an orthophoto, personal experience and knowledge of the people working on the interpretation and identification of the images. Keywords: Bombing; Interpretation and identification procedure; Orthophoto image; Stereoscopic evaluation; Unexploded aircraft ammunition.

Determining UAV Flight Trajectory for Target Recognition Using EO/IR and SAR.

The paper presents the concept of planning the optimal trajectory of fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) of a short-range tactical class, whose task is to recognize a set of ground objects as a part of a reconnaissance mission. Tasks carried out by such systems are mainly associated with an aerial reconnaissance using Electro-Optical/Infrared (EO/IR) systems and Synthetic Aperture Radars (SARs) to support military operations. Execution of a professional reconnaissance of the indicated objects requires determining the UAV flight trajectory in the close neighborhood of the target, in order to collect as much interesting information as possible. The paper describes the algorithm for determining UAV flight trajectories, which is tasked with identifying the indicated objectives using the sensors specified in the order. The presence of UAV threatening objects is taken into account. The task of determining the UAV flight trajectory for recognition of the target is a component of the planning process of the tactical class UAV mission, which is also presented in the article. The problem of determining the optimal UAV trajectory has been decomposed into several subproblems: determining the reconnaissance flight method in the vicinity of the currently recognized target depending on the sensor used and the required parameters of the recognition product (photo, film, or SAR scan), determining the initial possible flight trajectory that takes into account potential UAV threats, and planning detailed flight trajectory considering the parameters of the air platform based on the maneuver planning algorithm designed for tactical class platforms. UAV route planning algorithms with time constraints imposed on the implementation of individual tasks were used to solve the task of determining UAV flight trajectories. The problem was formulated in the form of a Mixed Integer Linear Problem (MILP) model. For determining the flight path in the neighborhood of the target, the optimal control algorithm was also presented in the form of a MILP model. The determined trajectory is then corrected based on the construction algorithm for determining real UAV flight segments based on Dubin curves.

Methodology of the preparation and planning the aerial reconnaissance of the operational-tactical depth with using the unmanned aircraft

A generalized methodology for planning of the aerial reconnaissance for the general monitoring of the large areas to the operational-tactical depth is proposed. It is shown that when using unmanned aircraft such a task for them should be considered as extremal. To solve this task for purposes of security it is necessary to use unmanned aircraft that is capable of flying automatically, in radio silence mode. A reconnaissance flight must be performed with periodic intermediate landings. During intermediate landings, the on-board power sources of the unmanned aircraft must be replaced and the captured reconnaissance information must be withdrawn. The inspection of the terrain and a selection of sites for take-offs and landings must be made prior to the start of aerial reconnaissance planning. The methodology of planning operational-tactical aerial reconnaissance consists of three parts. The first part includes the choice of the type of unmanned aircraft on the basis of its flight technical parameters and an assessment of its technical capability to ensure the performance of a non-stop drone flight over a distance of twice the depth of reconnaissance under current climatic conditions. The reduction of discharge capacity of onboard batteries at low temperatures is taken into account. The effect of wind on flight duration is taken into account. The calculation of the wind effect is performed graphically. The second part includes an assessment of the capabilities the optoelectronic systems of the unmanned aircraft to provide the necessary resolution of the captured materials while observing a safe flight altitude. The third part includes the development of a detailed reconnaissance flight route, the calculation of the need for energy resources, and the development of a reconnaissance flight program. The technique allows determining the required number of intermediate landings for replacing batteries, justifying the need to select one or several places for takeoffs and landings, develop a flight route map indicating intermediate landings, calculate the timing for main and auxiliary actions, calculate the required number the replaceable sets of batteries, develop the hourly schedule of executing reconnaissance.

자율정찰비행 무인항공기의 비행운영조건 고찰을 위한 비행시뮬레이션 개발

자율정찰비행 무인항공기의 비행운영조건 고찰을 위한 비행시뮬레이션 개발

Egon Erwin Kisch in Pola. Kriegsreportagen vom Ende des Krieges by Ulrike Robeck

Reviews 261 the role of design culture in shaping the social condition of Viennese Jews. The volume presents a series of new approaches in historical scholarship and applied fields, such as public education and architecture, to examine the complex cultural negotiations, including aspects of gender and class, that enabled Jewish designers, funders and their clients to play a pioneering role in the creation of Viennese modernism. From the emergence of fin de siècle design culture, the volume traces the repercussions of the traumatic loss of the First World War and the Empire on Austrian architecture and design in its particular Jewish codifications. Divided into five indicatively subheaded sections, the book comprises individual chapters exploring the role of Jewish designers in creating industrial and residential architecture, as well as in designing schools and religious architecture, fashion and textiles to express a distinctly Jewish self-awareness. As one chapter argues, Orientalism, unsurprisingly, played a significant role in this strategy, given the influence of Japonism on art nouveau and the common view of the Viennese secession, contrary to its universalizing tone, as a Jewish phenomenon. Further case studies include an examination of the colour decorations at Freud’s practice at Berggasse, which are read as self-conscious significations of his middle-class affiliation and professional status, and his belief in the therapeutic potential of colour. Elsewhere in the volume, Freud’s theories regarding repetition compulsion are examined in relation to the quasimythical institution of the Viennese coffee house and its standard design, which literary figures such as Stefan Zweig and Joseph Roth cast as metonymies for the lost Empire. Literary perspectives are further explored in the chapter on the journalist and Bambi author Felix Salten’s writings on carpets and home design. Albeit tentative in reference to design, another chapter examines Theodor Herzl’s and Egon Bahr’s responses to Viennese antisemitism. Printed on glossy paper, the volume is beautifully accompanied by blackand -white as well as colour reproductions of historical photographs, paintings and architectural sketches. Its content and attractive presentation make it likely to become a gratifying read and collector’s item for scholars, especially of history, architecture, literature and cultural studies more broadly, as well as for general audiences interested in Austrian and European design history. Cathy S. Gelbin Manchester University Egon Erwin Kisch in Pola. Kriegsreportagen vom Ende des Krieges. By Ulrike Robeck. Würzburg: Königshausen & Neumann, 2018. 148 pp. €29.80. ISBN 978–3826063800. This is the fifth in a series of short monograph publications by Ulrike Robeck, each presenting contextual close readings of texts by the Austrian-Czech journalist Egon Erwin Kisch (1885–1948). As was the case with her previous publications, this latest volume explores the original versions of texts which Reviews 262 are best known through their republication in adapted form in 1924, as part of Kisch’s famously self-stylizing anthology of his reportage, Der rasende Reporter. The trio of reports, which in 1924 were given the titles ‘Erkundungsflug über Venedig’, ‘Fahrt unter Wasser’ and ‘Nachtleben auf dem Polesaner Kai’, had originally been written and published in 1918 in the newspaper Bohemia, when Kisch was working for the Austrian-Hungarian military press office (Kriegspressequartier (KPQ)). In the final summer of the war he spent a short period reporting from the naval base at Pola in Istria (now Pula, Croatia), which, with its location in the northern Adriatic close to Italy, was a strategically important base of operations for the Austrian navy. The three reports respectively cover Kisch’s participation as a photographer in a reconnaissance flight over Venice, his experience of a battle exercise in a submarine and the harbourside nightlife in and around the officers’ mess in Pola. As Robeck notes, together they cover a trinity of elements — air, sea and land — but as they were not originally published side by side, and were not grouped together in Der rasende Reporter, this neat observation does not really offer much interpretative leverage. It is, however, true that Kisch saw these reports as providing interest that extended beyond the immediate wartime context. Indeed, readers of the versions published in Der rasende Reporter might be forgiven for missing this context altogether as they are presented...

RWD–14b „Czapla” i jego załoga zestrzelona w Górach Prusinowskich we wrześniu 1939 r. – prace eksploracyjne i upamiętnienie

Po blisko 80. latach ustalono, że w lesie koło miejscowości Góry Prusinowskie (gm. Szadek) 6 września 1939 r. polegli polscy lotnicy ppor. obs. Tade­usz Sawicki i kpr. pil. Brunon Ślebioda, wykonujący lot rozpoznawczy na samolocie RWD–14b „Czapla” w ramach działań wojennych 33 Eskadry Obserwacyjnej Armii „Poznań”. W 2016 r. w miejscu upadku polskiej maszyny odbyły się prace eksploracyj­ne. Dwa lata później, 25 maja 2018 r. wysiłkiem Nadleśnictwa Poddębice i Towarzystwa Przyjaciół Zduńskiej Woli w miejscu katastrofy odsłonięto obelisk upamiętniający miej­sce śmierci polskich lotników.

Near‐Real‐Time Modeling of Landslide Impacts to Inform Rapid Response: An Example from the 2016 Kaikōura, New Zealand, Earthquake

Reliable methods for the near‐real‐time modeling of landslide hazard and associated impacts that follow an earthquake are required to provide crucial information to guide emergency responses. After the 2016 Kaikoura earthquake in New Zealand, we undertook such a near‐real‐time modeling campaign in an attempt to pinpoint the location of landslides and identify the locations where roads and rivers had been blocked. The model combined an empirical analysis of landslide hazard (based on previously published global relationships) with a simple runout model (based on landslide reach angles). It was applied manually, with a first iteration completed within 24 hrs of the earthquake and a second iteration (based on updated shaking outputs) within ∼72 hrs . Both models highlighted the expectation that landsliding would be widespread and that impacts to roads likely meant that the township of Kaikoura was cut off from the surroundings. These results were used by responders at the time to formulate aerial reconnaissance flight paths and to identify the risk that landslide dams could cause further damage. Subsequent model verification based on available landslide inventories shows that although these models were able to capture a large percentage of landslides and landslide impacts, the outputs were overpredicted, limiting their use for pinpointing the precise locations of triggered landslides. To make future versions of the model more useful for informing emergency responses, continued work must be done on modification and adaptation of the approach so that this overprediction is minimized. Nevertheless, the results from this study show that the model is a promising initial attempt at near‐real‐time landslide modeling and that efforts to automate the approach would greatly increase the utility and speed of modeling in future earthquakes.

The Semiotics of Strategy: A Preliminary Structuralist Assessment of the Battle-Map in &lt;em&gt;Patton&lt;/em&gt; (1970) and &lt;em&gt;Midway&lt;/em&gt; (1976)

This essay offers a preliminary examination of the battle-map as depicted in two films about the Second World War: Franklin J. Shaffner's biopic Patton (1970) and Jack Smight's epic Midway (1976). In these films, maps, charts, or tableaux (the three-dimensional models upon which are plotted the movements of battalions, fleets, and so on) emerge as an expression of both martial and cinematic strategy. It is argued that the battle-map emerges as a crucial isomorphic element. It features as a prop to signify command and to relay otherwise complex strategic plottings, giving audiences a glimpse into how military strategy is formed and tested: a traditional 'reading' of the map. Conversely, the map is a device of foreshadowing and a sign of command's profound limitations. It is thus resolved that the battle-map is as much a sign of the subjective as the objective.

Trying to Break New Ground in Aerial Archaeology

Aerial reconnaissance continues to be a vital tool for landscape-oriented archaeological research. Although a variety of remote sensing platforms operate within the earth’s atmosphere, the majority of aerial archaeological information is still derived from oblique photographs collected during observer-directed reconnaissance flights, a prospection approach which has dominated archaeological aerial survey for the past century. The resulting highly biased imagery is generally catalogued in sub-optimal (spatial) databases, if at all, after which a small selection of images is orthorectified and interpreted. For decades, this has been the standard approach. Although many innovations, including digital cameras, inertial units, photogrammetry and computer vision algorithms, geographic(al) information systems and computing power have emerged, their potential has not yet been fully exploited in order to re-invent and highly optimise this crucial branch of landscape archaeology. The authors argue that a fundamental change is needed to transform the way aerial archaeologists approach data acquisition and image processing. By addressing the very core concepts of geographically biased aerial archaeological photographs and proposing new imaging technologies, data handling methods and processing procedures, this paper gives a personal opinion on how the methodological components of aerial archaeology, and specifically aerial archaeological photography, should evolve during the next decade if developing a more reliable record of our past is to be our central aim. In this paper, a possible practical solution is illustrated by outlining a turnkey aerial prospection system for total coverage survey together with a semi-automated back-end pipeline that takes care of photograph correction and image enhancement as well as the management and interpretative mapping of the resulting data products. In this way, the proposed system addresses one of many bias issues in archaeological research: the bias we impart to the visual record as a result of selective coverage. While the total coverage approach outlined here may not altogether eliminate survey bias, it can vastly increase the amount of useful information captured during a single reconnaissance flight while mitigating the discriminating effects of observer-based, on-the-fly target selection. Furthermore, the information contained in this paper should make it clear that with current technology it is feasible to do so. This can radically alter the basis for aerial prospection and move landscape archaeology forward, beyond the inherently biased patterns that are currently created by airborne archaeological prospection.

Observed Hurricane Wind Speed Asymmetries and Relationships to Motion and Environmental Shear

Abstract Wavenumber-1 wind speed asymmetries in 35 hurricanes are quantified in terms of their amplitude and phase, based on aircraft observations from 128 individual flights between 1998 and 2011. The impacts of motion and 850–200-mb environmental vertical shear are examined separately to estimate the resulting asymmetric structures at the sea surface and standard 700-mb reconnaissance flight level. The surface asymmetry amplitude is on average around 50% smaller than found at flight level, and while the asymmetry amplitude grows in proportion to storm translation speed at the flight level, no significant growth at the surface is observed, contrary to conventional assumption. However, a significant upwind storm-motion-relative phase rotation is found at the surface as translation speed increases, while the flight-level phase remains fairly constant. After removing the estimated impact of storm motion on the asymmetry, a significant residual shear direction-relative asymmetry is found, particularly at the surface, and, on average, is located downshear to the left of shear. Furthermore, the shear-relative phase has a significant downwind rotation as shear magnitude increases, such that the maximum rotates from the downshear to left-of-shear azimuthal location. By stratifying observations according to shear-relative motion, this general pattern of a left-of-shear residual wind speed maximum is found regardless of the orientation between the storm’s heading and shear direction. These results are quite consistent with recent observational studies relating western Pacific typhoon wind asymmetries to environmental shear. Finally, changes in wind asymmetry over a 5-day period during Hurricane Earl (2010) are analyzed to understand the combined impacts of motion and the evolving shear.

Impacts of reconnaissance flight data on numerical simulation of tropical cyclones over South China Sea

AbstractIn 2011, the Hong Kong Observatory (HKO) and the Government Flying Service (GFS) of the Hong Kong Government conducted reconnaissance data collection flights for two tropical cyclones over the South China Sea. It was the first time in the region that flight measurements of this kind had been carried out specifically for tropical cyclones. Horizontal wind velocity components, temperature and relative humidity at selected flight levels were recorded at the temporal resolution of 20 times per second to delineate the wind flow and other meteorological conditions. They were found to be consistent with other synoptic station data sparsely located over the sea areas, as well as in good agreement with the ocean surface wind data from the satellite microwave scatterometer. In this study, aircraft measurements for the two tropical cyclones in 2011 and one in July 2009 were assimilated into the HKO mesoscale Non‐Hydrostatic Model (NHM) using its three‐dimensional variational data assimilation (3DVAR) to investigate the impact of the data on the model analysis and forecast. Model sensitivity experiments with and without the flight measurements were conducted. The flight observations were found to improve model analysis and forecasts of wind circulation, temperature and humidity in the vicinity of the tropical cyclones. Improvement in track forecast was obtained although an insignificant effect was seen in predicting the central pressure of the storms. The inclusion of flight measurements also improved the forecast of the surface wind distribution and precipitation associated with the tropical cyclones.

Study on UAV Path Planning Simulation

Path planning is an important research content of unmanned aircraft vehicle (UAV) technology, it involves many factors, and simulation is very difficult. Based on the knowledge of relevant mathematical knowledge and path planning, a UAV path planning simulation method is proposed, the method can obtain reconnaissance band width in reconnaissance area by reconnaissance instructions, and then UAV reconnaissance flight paths can be calculated combined with the shortest path principle, and UAV can complete reconnaissance missions based on path planning in the shortest possible time. This method is simple and practical, and it meets the needs of the UAV path planning simulation in the large-scale system simulation.

Energetically optimal foraging strategy is emergent property of time-keeping behavior in honey bees

Forager honey bees exhibit a robust time memory, based on an endogenous circadian clock, enabling them to schedule their flights to coincide with the nectar presentation of known food sources. They retain this time memory for several consecutive days even in the absence of nectar rewards. Recent work has identified 2 classes of forager: ‘‘persistent’’ foragers that reconnoiter a known food source to ascertain its status and ‘‘reticent’’ foragers that apparently wait in the hive for a waggle dance confirming source availability. Surprisingly, a foraging group contains 40‐90% persistent foragers, depending on experience at the source. What is the benefit in sending so many foragers to investigate a source when only a few foragers are required to reactivate the entire group? We used an agent-based software model to test the energetics underlying several different ratios of persistent and reticent individuals in the foraging group while varying 6 ecological factors: forager group size, source distance, source sucrose concentration, source availability in hours, number of days the source is known to the colony, and the rate at which new unemployed foragers appear on the dance floor. Our model demonstrates 2 primary explanations. First, a large number of persistent foragers are needed to ensure that at least some foragers will reconnoiter their source early in its availability, thus enabling the group to effectively exploit the source. Second, the cost of a reconnaissance flight is negligible compared with even a single successful foraging trip. Key words: agent-based model, circadian rhythms, food-anticipatory activity, foraging, honey bees, time memory. [Behav Ecol]

NATURAL HISTORY FIRST (BUT DON'T STOP THERE)

This quote from Agassiz welcomes visitors to the main entrance of the Ruthven Museums Building at the University of Michigan, beseeching them to collect their own data and draw their own conclusions. The sentiment has inspired generations of evolutionary biologists, who continue the long tradition of deductive science epitomized by Darwin and Wallace. The fundamental questions about evolution have always been borne from direct observation of, and curiosity about, nature. In the best cases, the process leads to elegant tests of hypotheses and formulations of general theories. No practitioners of this art of investigation have done it with more rigor, provided deeper insight, or better illuminated the aesthetic qualities of science, than Peter and Rosemary Grant. It is fitting, then, that the careers of the Grants (while showing no signs of ebbing toward a twilight!) should be celebrated by assembling a fine cadre of scientific naturalists to share their own observations and deductions. In Search of the Causes of Evolution is a collection of essays based on presentations at a symposium organized by Princeton University on the occasion of the Grants’ official “retirement.” The chapters are remarkably true to the theme that observation leads the way to detailed dissections of the underlying mechanisms of evolution. The author list represents some of the most significant contributors at the forefront of evolutionary research. Although readers will recognize most of the study systems (e.g., anoles, beach mice, dung beetles, sticklebacks even make two appearances), the authors generally have done an admirable job of resisting the temptation to rehash old work and have contributed new data or syntheses to the volume. The resultant book thereby serves as a low-altitude reconnaissance flight over some of the most exciting current research in evolutionary ecology. The ground covered by the essays is extensive, as it should be under a title purporting to encompass the causes of evolution. As anyone who has taught an introductory evolution course can attest, the scope of topics that we seek to explain is staggering. One person’s bread and butter might not even be included on another’s list. The Grants have at least attempted to span this space by including chapters across the spectrum from the evolution of early earth environments (Andrew Knoll and David Johnston) and macroevolutionary patterns of diversification (David Jablonski) to the search for “behavior genes” (Hopi Hoekstra) and the population genetics of island endemism (Trevor Price and colleagues). True to the tradition of the Grants’ own work, however, the majority of essays emphasizes the interplay of selection and genetics as drivers of biodiversity. This is a collection that is unapologetically adaptationist in its perspective on evolutionary mechanisms. So what do we learn about where the grander field of evolutionary biology is headed when we collect marquis names with license to write about whatever they want? First, evolutionary research is not dominated by traditional model systems. Indeed,

The Eyewall-Penetration Reconnaissance Observation of Typhoon Longwang (2005) with Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, Aerosonde

Abstract In this paper, a successful eye-penetration reconnaissance flight by an unmanned aerial vehicle, Aerosonde, into Typhoon Longwang (2005) and the preliminary analyses of the collected data are presented. The 10-h flight is diagnosed through four flight legs. The wind field measured along flight leg 1 provides the tangential and radial wind profiles from the outer perimeter into the eye of the typhoon at the 700-hPa layer. A vertical sounding was taken in the eye along flight leg 2 and the derived surface pressure in the eyewall is close to the estimates made by the local weather agencies. Along flight leg 3, the strongest winds during the whole flight mission were measured. These in situ wind measurements by Aerosonde are consistent with the winds observed by the Hua-lien Doppler weather radar. The maximum 10-min (1 min) wind along flight leg 3 when Aerosonde was flying around the eyewall region is 58.6 m s−1 (62 m s−1). The maximum sustained surface wind derived from this maximum wind speed is also close to the estimates made by the local weather agencies. In conclusion, this successful mission demonstrates that the Aerosonde with a trained crew can play a role in severe weather monitoring and the Aerosonde’s measurement can serve as an independent check for Doppler radar wind retrieval.