>> Allison Hirth, Reporting: FROM TRUCK TO TERRAIN, EACH TAKES LESS
THAN FIVE MINUTES TO PUT IN PLACE, BUT
EVERY ONE OF THOSE MINUTES MATTER, SINCE
THE TEAM OF TEXAS TECH RESEARCHERS
SETTING UP THESE STICK-NETS WILL BE
RACING AGAINST A SEVERE STORM. >> Chris Weiss, Researcher: We
get out ahead, we'll pull one of the
probes out, it has a separate data
acquisition box that we need to pull
out and also a battery box, and we'll stake it
into the ground, we'll hook up all the
wiring, turn it on and get out of the way.
>> Allison Hirth: STICK-NETS ARE JUST ONE SET OF
INSTRUMENTS TEXAS TECH IS TAKING ON THE
ROAD. IT'S PART TWO OF THE VERIFICATION
OF THE ORIGINS OF ROTATION IN TORNADOES
EXPERIMENT SOUTHEAST, OR VORTEX-SE, AND
TEXAS TECH IS AGAIN PARTICIPATING IN THE
CONGRESSIONALLY-MANDATED PROJECT.
>> Chris Weiss: Congress decided that we needed to pay
some specific attention to the
southeastern tornado problem,
specifically what features are
unique to the southeast that influence
tornadoes. >> Allison Hirth: VORTEX-SE RUNS FROM MARCH
UNTIL MAY. CHRIS WEISS, WHO'S A PRINCIPAL
INVESTIGATOR ON THE PROJECT, SAYS IT'S
CENTERED AROUND HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA. ALONG
WITH 24 STICK-NETS, WHICH MEASURE
TEMPERATURE, PRESSURE, HUMIDITY AND WIND,
TEXAS TECH WILL ALSO ADD ITS LIGHTNING
MAPPING ARRAY SENSORS TO THE MIX. >> Chris Weiss: We're
going to try to use these
platforms to map out the specific
character of lightning strikes, so the
size, the channel length,
try to use the characteristics of the
lightning strike to learn more about the
the parent thunderstorm updraft, which
those processes and how those affect the
development of tornadoes. >> Allison Hirth: THE TEAM PLANS
TO LAUNCH WEATHER BALLOONS TOO. >> Chris Weiss: That's
going to allow us to make measurements
of the vertical structure of the
atmosphere, specifically how temperature
is changing with height, but also other
factors like wind and moisture content.
>> Allison Hirth: WEISS SAYS BEING PART OF VORTEX-SE GIVES
HIS GROUP THE OPPORTUNITY TO COLLABORATE
WITH OTHER INSTITUTIONS AND FEDERAL LABS
BUT THAT'S NOT ALL. >> Chris Weiss: Not only are we
accomplishing something scientifically, but we're
bringing a lot of exposure to the
university and
that does, that has
feedback in terms of recruitment, not
just for students, but also for faculty. I
think they see that we have a, you know,
good research enterprise here at Texas
Tech University and these types of
projects really put Texas Tech
on the map. >> Aaron Hill, Graduate Student: One of the main reasons I
came to Texas Tech was the opportunity
to go do field work in areas that I was
interested in and other areas that maybe
weren't even related to my research,
such as this project. >> Allison Hirth: AARON HILL,
WHO'S A GRADUATE STUDENT, WILL ACCOMPANY
WEISS AND TWO OTHERS FROM TEXAS TECH ON THE
TRIP EAST. THEY SAY THEY'LL TAKE WHAT
THEY'VE LEARNED IN PAST PROJECTS AND
HOPE TO BUILD ON IT MOVING FORWARD. >> Aaron Hill:
How do tornadoes really form? What are
the underlying mechanisms that lead them
to form and how do those
maybe differ from storms that don't
produce them? What can we learn about
the fundamental dynamics of those storms?
Chris Weiss: We're going to try to apply some of the
things that we learned in the VORTEX 2
project, what influences tornado
development, and we're going to try to apply
these things specifically to the
southeast. But also, we're going to try to
learn some new things about the
southeastern environment. For example, the
role of terrain in the development of
tornadoes. We're going to try to
understand some of the types of storms
that produce tornadoes out there. >> Allison Hirth: FOR
TEXAS TECH TODAY, I'M ALLISON HIRTH.
