Scientists and students from around the world will soon launch an ambitious project to learn what lies at the heart of tornado formation. The project, Verification of the Origin of Rotation in Tornados Experiment 2, VORTEX2 or V2 for short, kicks off May 10, according to a press release from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The $11.9 million program is an extension of a 1995 program that looked at the life of a tornado from beginning to end. Rather than examining the how, V2 will attempt to find the why of tornado formation.
“An important finding from the original VORTEX experiment was that the factors responsible for causing tornadoes happen on smaller time and space scales than scientists had thought,” stated National Science Foundation program director Stephan Nelson. “New advances will allow for a more detailed sampling of a storm’s wind, temperature and moisture environment and lead to a better understanding of why tornadoes form—and how they can be more accurately predicted.”
Research teams will study supercell thunderstorm activity in more than 900 miles of the U.S. Great Plains region. For more information, visit the V2 website.
Jolie Breeden is the lead editor and science communicator for Natural Hazards Center publications. She writes and edits for Research Counts; the Quick Response, Mitigation Matters, Public Health, and Weather Ready Research Award report series; as well as for special projects and publications. Breeden graduated summa cum laude from the University of Colorado Boulder with a bachelor’s degree in journalism.