NASA's 2012 HS3 mission came to an end Nov. 6 when an unmanned Global Hawk aircraft flew a final data-collection mission in the North Pacific Ocean.
NASA's Hurricane and Severe Storm Sentinel scientists had a fascinating tropical cyclone to study in long-lived Hurricane Nadine, making 5 flights over the storm.
Scientists are currently flying state-of-the-art, autonomously operated instruments to gather difficult-to-obtain measurements of wind speeds, precipitation, and cloud structures in and around tropical storms.