Eye of the Storm: NASA, Drones, and the Race to Crack the Hurricane Code

by Amy Cherrix

Overview

With stunning photos, detailed maps, and infographics, Amy Cherrix takes readers on a trip into the eye of the storm of hurricane danger zones as she chronicles a team of daring NASA scientists looking to discover the future of the hurricane forecast.

Ten million Americans live in hurricane danger zones, but how do we know if or when to evacuate? We must predict both when a storm will strike and how strong it will be. A daring NASA earth science mission may have finally found a way to crack this hurricane code.

Dr. Scott Braun is the principal investigator for the Hurricane and Severe Storm Sentinel mission (HS3), which flies repurposed military drone over hurricanes so that scientists can gather data. But the stakes are high and time is running out.

In the first Scientists in the Field book entirely about weather, meet the NASA team on the cutting edge of meteorological field science. 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780544411654
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	04/25/2017
Series:	Scientists in the Field Series
Pages:	80
Sales rank:	667,586
Product dimensions:	9.10(w) x 11.30(h) x 0.70(d)
Age Range:	10 - 12 Years

About the Author

Amy Cherrix writes nonfiction for young readers of all ages. Her books include In the Shadow of the Moon: America, Russia, and the Hidden History of the Space Race and two books in the award-winning Scientists in the Field series—Backyard Bears: Conservation, Habitat Changes, and the Rise of Urban Wildlife and Eye of the Storm: NASA, Drones, and the Race to Crack the Hurricane Code—a Subaru Prize for Excellence in Middle Grade Science Books finalist. You can find her online at amycherrix.com.

Editorial Reviews

"Well researched and engagingly written, this is an occasionally fascinating entry on hurricane prediction for middle schoolers. Robust science collections should consider." –School Library Journal
 "The team’s mission unfolds in such a gripping fashion that readers will be hooked. This book will be particularly eye-opening to those with an interest in severe weather."–Booklist  
"Cherrix provides clear and informative background on storm formation . . ." –Horn Book —

From the Publisher

05/01/2017
Gr 4–7—Opening with a tragic anecdote about a Staten Island family displaced and disrupted by Hurricane Sandy in 2012, the narrative quickly shifts to its central topic, the physics of hurricane formation and the research being done at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility, located on the eastern shore of Virginia. Though the story is occasionally unfocused, the bulk of the text outlines efforts to improve understanding of a hurricane's early stages using data gathered by a Global Hawk drone, a demonstration aircraft retired from the U.S. Air Force. Personal profiles of many of the scientists detail training and interests and offer a window into the life of a researcher. Much information is provided about the aircraft's instrumentation, the work of the meteorologists on the ground, and the slow-paced "office work" of operating the drone from a computer at the Virginia facility. Edifying sidebars examine tangential topics such as the ecology of nearby Chincoteague Island, the backgrounds of NASA meteorologists, and the different flight patterns of the drone. A closing chapter gives overviews of other cyclonic storms in recent history and suggests implications for the research in a broader context. The volume is abundantly illustrated with photos of the research facility, the equipment, and the people who use and maintain it, as well as with numerous maps, charts, and other graphics. VERDICT Well researched and engagingly written, this is an occasionally fascinating entry on hurricane prediction for middle schoolers. Robust science collections should consider.—Bob Hassett, Luther Jackson Middle School, Falls Church, VA

School Library Journal

2017-03-06
A high-altitude drone built for the Air Force is repurposed to investigate hurricane behavior in a NASA-sponsored project headquartered at Wallops Island, Virginia.This latest title in a long-running series looks at cutting-edge meteorological research with implications for the billions of people around the world who live in the paths of tropical cyclones. Opening with a chapter about the devastation caused by Hurricane Sandy in 2012, it goes on to explain hurricane formation and NASA's Hurricane and Severe Storm Sentinel mission. Cherrix introduces the Global Hawk drone project and describes preparations for a sample flight over the intensifying Hurricane Edouard in 2014. Finally she shows how another tropical storm, the 1970 Bhola cyclone in the Indian Ocean, led to the creation of a new nation, Bangladesh. This is real science, which, as the author points out, takes time—time to amass and analyze data and then to submit and have it vetted before publication. But it doesn't make for very compelling reading. Readers drawn in by the dramatic cover and opening description of a tragic teen death as a result of Hurricane Sandy may get bogged down in the scientific and engineering detail, which uses appropriate but unfamiliar technical terms and acronyms, defined in context but hard to remember. They may struggle to keep straight the many scientists involved. Suggest to able teen readers who already have the appropriate background knowledge. (hurricane preparedness, glossary, chapter notes, index) (Nonfiction. 14-18)

Kirkus Reviews