Design and Rocket Deployment of a Trackable Pseudo-Lagrangian Drifter based Meteorological Probe into the Lawrence/Linwood EF4 Tornado and Mesocyclone on 28 May 2019

Abstract

A custom lightweight, miniaturized and trackable meteorological probe was launched by model rocket into the "inflow notch" of a strengthening EF4, long-tracked wedge tornado south of Lawrence, Kansas, on 28 May 2019. The rocket reached apogee at 439 m AGL, releasing the "near-Lagrangian drifter" by parachute directly into the tornado vortex.The probe reached a velocity of 84 m s-1 in the first revolution around the tornado, followed by an additional revolution and updraft. The probe then entered the parent mesocyclone at an altitude of 4,323 m MSL and underwent a tilted ascent with speeds reaching 83 m s-1 while lofting to 11,914 m MSL.1 Hz pressure, temperature, relative humidity, GPS, acceleration, gyroscope, and magnetometer data for the flight were transmitted in real-time to a ground station until landing 51 km northeast of the launch position. The probe was later recovered without damage due to the Lagrangian Drifter design, and higher resolution 10 Hz data was downloaded.This novel deployment method and design facilitate the collection of empirical data in real-time from within tornadoes, the mesocyclone, and downdraft without requiring the probe to be recovered or for the researchers deploying to enter the circulation.