Sharks Being Used to Track Hurricane Patterns

Lafayette, Louisiana (KPEL-FM) - Once Hurricane Season begins June 1, each year Louisianians from New Orleans to Lafayette, Lake Charles to New Iberia, and all points along the Louisiana Gulf Coast are glued to water temperatures and the coast of Africa, where the potential hurricanes start.

In an effort to accurately monitor potential hurricanes forming and where they'll travel, researchers continuously look for new and innovative ways to collect the best data possible to quite literally save as many lives as possible Hurricane Season after Hurricane Season.

One new way researchers are attempting to predict where hurricanes might hit is by using sharks.

Yep, sharks could be playing a big new role in collecting water temperature data during Hurricane Season.

Unsplash Via Gerald Schömbs

Sharks Being Used To Monitor Temperatures In The Atlantic

Msn.com is reporting that weather researchers are now using sharks equipped with sensors attached their dorsal fins to collect water temperature data in the Atlantic.

Basically, the sharks are being used as mobile marine monitors to help researchers determine where the water temps are higher than other temperatures in the Atlantic and the Gulf.

Obviously, hurricanes follow the warmest water temperatures in the Atlantic and the Gulf.

With sharks collecting water temperature data, the hope is that this data will help researchers be able to accurately predict the path of hurricanes and where these storms will hit.

From msn.com -

The sharks aren’t meant to replace human forecasters in any way, but they could add to the stream of data that forecasters analyze.

Measuring the distribution of heat in the ocean is key to predicting where hurricanes will go and how strong they will be.

Unsplash Via David Clode

The current plan is for researchers at NOAA to tag dozens of new sharks each year in time for Hurricane Season to feed the data into the existing hurricane computer models in the hopes of providing more accurate hurricane forecasts.

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Source: Researchers are Using Sharks to Track Hurricane Patterns

Filed Under: sharks, noaa, hurricane season

Categories: Weather, Louisiana News