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ICECHIP, a major severe-weather research project funded by the National Science Foundation, brought together more than 70 researchers from 15 research institutions to conduct the first U.S. hail-focused field campaign in over 40 years.

The IRISS team flew the RAAVEN as close as possible along the "backside" of the storm to document the extent of the hail swath left on the ground. Imaging was done using a gimbal-mounted, downward looking FPV camera. The RAAVEN also measured pressure, temperature, humidity, and three-dimensional wind as it flew as low as 100 feet above the terrain.

Between May 18th and June 30th, the IRISS flight crew spent 41 days in the field, drove more than 15,000 miles and participated in 20 Intensive Observation Periods (IOPs). Operations ranged as far south as Junction, Texas, north to within 50 miles of the Canadian border in north-central North Dakota, west to Billings, MT, and east to Wichita, Kansas.Ìý

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