Measuring Debbie

In recent days I’ve been part of a deployment team for Severe Cyclone Debbie on the Whitsunday Coast. In the days prior to Debbie making landfall, the team, which included myself and fellow CRC PhD students Korah Parackal and Mitchell Humphreys, and researchers Dr David Henderson and Dr Daniel Smith, positioned Surface Weather Information Relay and Logging Network (SWIRLnet) anemomter’s in the potential path of the cyclone. We have been able to gather data from Bowen and Proserpine, which you can see at https://www.jcu.edu.au/cyclone-testing-station/swirlnet. There is even a time lapse video on the cyclone hitting Bowen. Our CRC colleagues back in Brisbane, Matthew Mason and Rich Krupar, were vital in keeping this webpage running while we waiting out the cyclone.

In the coming days and weeks, we will collect the anemomter’s and conduct a damage survey – more on this when we have completed the work.