Sea Secrets Lecture Series Jonathan Zawislak, Ph.D.

This lecture will have a complimentary reception at SALT Waterfront Restaurant on the Rosenstiel Campus, beginning at 6:30 p.m. The lecture will begin promptly at 7:00 p.m. in the Rosenstiel auditorium. Seating is first come, first served as space is limited.

All lectures are also being offered virtually via Zoom. at 7:00 p.m. on the day of the lecture to watch.

Lecture title: Into the Eye: The Science Behind Hurricane Hunting

Every summer hurricane hunter aircraft, their crews, and the scientists that fly on them, play a critical role in not only obtaining the measurements that inform the public as to the hazards and risks posed by storms as they threaten landfall, but are also used by researchers to improve our understanding about the processes that result in hurricane formation, intensity change, and the hazards they pose. This lecture will present an end-to-end perspective from how we fly aircraft into these chaotic storms, to the types of data collected, to how that data reaches the end users to improve forecasts and our understanding of hurricanes.

Dr. Jon Zawislak is a Meteorologist and Flight Director at NOAA's Aircraft Operations Center. Jon is a veteran hurricane flier, having flown over 200 passes of hurricane eyewalls in the NOAA P-3 hurricane hunter aircraft. After spending 15 years in academia and at NOAA/AOML’s Hurricane Research Division previously researching hurricane formation and intensification using decades of aircraft and satellite data, Jon joined AOC in 2023 and now applies his meteorological knowledge to brief aircrews for mission flights and works with the pilots during the flight to safely maneuver the aircraft through the storms to accomplish the mission and science objectives.

Host or Publisher University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science