While climate change and hurricanes are big topics right now and something that has been researched by many, few people have the guts to do this research by flying into the hurricanes themselves.
Leon Nguyen, an instructor at Oregon State University, is one of the people who has this bravery.
Nguyen originally went to Cornell University for undergraduate studies and did research on how extreme precipitation events in the northeastern United States were changing.
He then went to The State University of New York at Albany for his PhD, where he researched how hurricanes form and intensify under certain conditions. Flying into hurricanes was part of his postdoctoral research.
According to Nguyen, flying into hurricanes was “definitely” his most interesting research experience. He said that there are a couple of different reasons why people fly into storms and one of these is research. The best way to collect data within hurricanes is to fly into them.
While on these planes, he collected data working with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the instruments they had on board their planes. He was working in Miami, Florida as part of the Hurricane Research Division.
There were radars on board to measure how heavy the rainfall was within the storm and to figure out the wind speed and direction around the plane, and the plane itself had sensors for wind, humidity, temperature and pressure.
His other reason to fly into hurricanes, besides collecting data, was to serve the public. When there’s a storm threatening any landmass, he said it’s a high priority to get the forecast right. It’s important to do this in order to know exactly where it’s going to be, what the impacts will be and how severe these will be.
While in Miami, he said he was looking at a specific subset of storms that were within environments that were ambiguous as to whether or not the storm would intensify to a certain degree. He said these storms were very hard to predict but very cool to fly into and see the data that came out of them.
He also said this research was influential in flight planning within these storms and contributed in a meaningful way.
Nguyen said he has always been interested in hurricanes, the weather and the climate in general, and as a kid, he grew up watching the weather channel and drawing weather maps. He also said it’s always been a dream for him to fly into hurricanes.
“It just kind of happened. I was always that kid looking out the window when a thunderstorm was happening outside and that sort of thing,” Nguyen said.
Nguyen teaches Sustainability 103, Intro to Climate Change, at OSU and he said what drew him into teaching was that he really enjoys interacting with students and talking about things that are relevant in the world.
Nguyen said his goal as a teacher is to make students informed citizens and to have an impact on their lives, which he accomplishes by teaching them about the impact of climate change.
“Climate change is becoming increasingly relevant to people’s lives and their futures,” Nguyen said. “So I wanted to share that a little bit, and sort of educate the public about what’s going on right now, and what to expect in the future.”
