How Sharks Could Help Predict Hurricanes
- 10 years ago
In the future, sharks might be able to help scientists track ocean water temperatures and predict hurricanes. Over the past decade, researchers from the University of Miami have tagged over 750 sea animals like sharks, tuna fish, gillfish, and tarpons with sensors to that record water temperature and salinity at different depths, in different parts of the ocean.
Sharks are already being used by scientists to track ocean water temperatures, and in the future this data could help predict the intensity of hurricanes.
Over the past decade, researchers from the University of Miami have tagged over 750 sea animals like sharks, tuna fish,billfish , and tarpons with sensors that record water temperature and salinity at different depths, in different parts of the ocean.
Jerald Ault, a marine biology professor at the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science is quoted as saying: “What the fish are providing is a profile of the ocean's heat structure. You get a picture of what the upper layers of the ocean look like.”
The information collected by the sensors is sent back to a satellite when the tagged fish breach or swim near the surface, and that data might someday be used to predict storm activity over the ocean.
That would take thousands of tagged fish, but the researchers are continuing to work towards their goal of sending the information to the National Hurricane Center for analysis.
Hurricanes gain strength as they pass over parts of the ocean with warm water, so if scientists know the temperature of the water in a storm’s path, they could potentially predict how severe it will be when it hits land.
Sharks are already being used by scientists to track ocean water temperatures, and in the future this data could help predict the intensity of hurricanes.
Over the past decade, researchers from the University of Miami have tagged over 750 sea animals like sharks, tuna fish,billfish , and tarpons with sensors that record water temperature and salinity at different depths, in different parts of the ocean.
Jerald Ault, a marine biology professor at the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science is quoted as saying: “What the fish are providing is a profile of the ocean's heat structure. You get a picture of what the upper layers of the ocean look like.”
The information collected by the sensors is sent back to a satellite when the tagged fish breach or swim near the surface, and that data might someday be used to predict storm activity over the ocean.
That would take thousands of tagged fish, but the researchers are continuing to work towards their goal of sending the information to the National Hurricane Center for analysis.
Hurricanes gain strength as they pass over parts of the ocean with warm water, so if scientists know the temperature of the water in a storm’s path, they could potentially predict how severe it will be when it hits land.