NOAA’s Gulfstream IV hurricane surveillance jet will be stationed in Hawaii until the end of the month as it conducts its winter storm reconnaissance in the Pacific.

Scientists aboard the aircraft deploy highly sensitive devices called dropsondes into strategic areas of the atmosphere over the Pacific. The information gathered helps meteorologists to improve winter weather forecasts released 24 hours to 96 hours before a storm.
The Winter Storms Reconnaissance Program is in its 10th year and prior to the jet’s arrival in Hawaii, the aircraft and nine-person crew flew missions out of Yokota Air Base in Japan.