Storm Trackers

Can the ocean really help predict if a hurricane is forming?



Students in Prof. Dan Horn’s Physical Oceanography class are figuring it out. The Semester at Sea class focuses on an ocean’s various aspects, including some biological components and its waves, currents, climate and erosion. One important factor is tracking water temperature to determine hurricane development.

“Water surface temperature controls global weather and this time of year it controls hurricane development,” Horn explains.

Horn and his students have been deploying buoys into the Atlantic Ocean that they will track via the Internet to check the likelihood of hurricanes forming. Click on the video to watch the latest buoy deployment. To follow the progress of the buoys, click on the following link: http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/phod/dac/gdp_track.html and enter "WMO #62938" to see how the buoys are tracking water temperatures so far.