The researchers at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) are ready to test a new technique that is able to provide a detailed 3-D view of an approaching hurricane.

The technique, called VORTRAC, an acronym for Vortex Objective Radar Tracking and Circulation will be to provide information about hurricanes every six minutes and allows scientists to determine whether the storm is gathering strength as it nears land.

"With this technique, meteorologists for the first time will be able to monitor the strength of a hurricane every few minutes as it approaches landfall and quickly alert coastal communities if it suddenly intensifies or weakens," says NCAR scientist Wen-Chau Lee.

In this moment in order to monitor the winds of landfalling hurricane forecasters are using aircrafts that are dropping instruments package into the storm. The main disadvantage of this method is that the aircraft can take readings no more than every few hours.

According to Lee, VORTRAC uses the Doppler radar network established by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in the 1980s and 1990s., and that’s why the technique works only for hurricanes that are within about 120 miles of land.

In order to prove the effectiveness of VORTRAC, Lee and his collaborators applied the technique retroactively to Hurricane Charley and reported that they accurately captured the burst in the hurricane's intensity.

The new technique will be tested during this year’s hurricane season, which officially starts at the beginning of June.