During a Senate Commerce Committee confirmation hearing on Wednesday, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) asked NOAA Administrator Nominee Dr. Neil Jacobs about the capability of drones to fly through a hurricane.
00:03Dr. Jacobs, President Trump has made it a national priority to expand offshore oil and gas production.
00:11NOAA plays a key role in reviewing permits and issuing authorizations under the Marine Mammal Protection Act and other laws.
00:19If you're confirmed, how will you improve the efficiency of the offshore permitting process,
00:24particularly when it comes to environmental reviews under NEPA or the MMPA?
00:29Thank you for the question, Senator.
00:33If confirmed, I'll work with the White House to find efficiencies to unlock America's energy potential,
00:40consistent with the Executive Order of Unleashing American Energy.
00:45Mr. Jordan, a persistent challenge within NOAA has been the siloed structure of its line offices,
00:53which has resulted in research projects stalling or never transitioning into operational use.
00:58NOAA must close the gap between research and operations in order to give the public and decision makers more timely and actionable information.
01:08How would you accelerate the research to operations timeline at NOAA and foster greater collaboration across line offices?
01:16Thank you for the question, Senator.
01:18So, moving the research closer to the operational sister line offices of NOAA would be important to take that research from OAR,
01:25where it currently exists now, and moving it to the Weather Service or the National Ocean Service.
01:30The closeness with the operational end user, the outcome of that data will foster greater collaboration and innovation,
01:39and you also get that feedback loop of research to operations, operations to research.
01:43The operations really should be driving what the research is focusing on.
01:48Dr. Jacobs, we have seen a pattern of dual-engine flame-outs caused by water and hail ingestion when aircraft descend into severe storms.
01:59Unlike commercial jets, NOAA's hurricane hunters use turboprops, which are less vulnerable because they do not pull water directly into the engines.
02:08Can you and the Department of Commerce commit to working with the FAA to ensure that a future improved hurricane hunter fleet uses appropriate technology to prevent deadly incidents?
02:20Thank you for the question, Senator.
02:23I spent many years in the aviation industry.
02:27The turboprops operate differently.
02:30They essentially aren't affected by the air-fuel ratio, and that's what helps them in saturated environments,
02:39and would definitely commit to working with the FAA on this issue.
02:44Great.
02:46Hurricanes have also been known to pick up entire homes off their foundations.
02:51How big would a drone need to be to navigate through a hurricane, and to your knowledge, is such a drone available?
02:59Well, thank you for the question.
03:05There's probably two capabilities.
03:08One would be flying against the wind, and one flying with the wind.
03:12So, for the last couple of years, one of the things that NOAA's been doing is deploying small drones inside of the hurricane to fly around, but they're a foot or two long.
03:22There's other potential opportunities to fly above the hurricane and deploy things through the hurricane.
03:29I think it's to be determined if we can actually fly one through the hurricane, but I have been in conversations with a couple of companies that are interested in potentially testing some capabilities.
03:41And in your judgment, what are the benefits of artificial intelligence for improving weather forecasting?
03:48The primary benefit, in my opinion, is computational efficiency.
03:54Even if the artificial intelligence can't do something better, if it can do it faster and more efficiently, I think it's worth using.
04:06Okay.
04:07Senator Sullivan.
04:08Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
04:10Mr. Jacobs, looking forward to meeting with you.
04:13Mr. Jacobs, looking forward to meeting with you.
04:14And I want to, I've missed a lot of the he-
04:15Dr. Jacobs, looking forward to meeting with you.
