Hurricanes

A hurricane’s intensity depends on the ocean beneath it — on how much warm water the storm can draw from before its own mixing brings cooler water to the surface. That subsurface structure is what forecast models most need and least often have, and it is measured in the one place ships cannot safely work: under the storm itself.

Uncrewed platforms fill that gap. Underwater gliders profile temperature and salinity through the upper ocean and surface periodically to report, while uncrewed surface vehicles ride out the storm at the air-sea interface, measuring winds, waves, and fluxes. C4PO has flown gliders for hurricane monitoring in the Mid-Atlantic through MARACOOS and NOAA-supported deployments, and works on the next generation of uncrewed surface vehicles and their launch and recovery systems.

The map above draws on public feeds: active storm positions, forecast tracks and cones from the National Hurricane Center, NOAA uncrewed surface vehicle positions from the PMEL ERDDAP server, and underwater glider positions from the US IOOS Glider Data Assembly Center. It shows only platforms that have reported recently, and refreshes hourly.