NASA and NOAA are using GPS to better forecast the ferocity of hurricane and tropical cyclone winds.

 

The GPS method is used to fill in the gaps of current measurement methods, particularly flying piloted aircrafts into the storm. Currently, the planes drop an expensive dropsonde (a 16-inch tube full of temperature, pressure and humidity measuring instruments attached to a parachute) into the storm. The relatively low cost of the GPS method allows meteorologists to run the model non-stop, thus providing more data to the modeling systems. However, NOAA and NASA do not intend to replace dropsondes with GPS, because of the accuracy dropsondes provide.

 

In 2016, NASA plans to launch a series of micro-satellites with GPS signals to continuously monitor global ocean surface wind speeds. The system is known as the Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System (CYGNSS).