This video highlights how NOAA’s Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory (AOML) has used unmanned gliders to improve hurricane intensity forecasts. According to AOML improvements in hurricane intensity forecasts for the Atlantic have lagged in comparison to hurricane track forecasts. Rapid hurricane intensification is often observed when tropical cyclones move over warm ocean features, given appropriate atmospheric conditions. AOML plays a key role in collecting and maintaining sustained ocean observations that monitor the thermal structure of these warm ocean features using drifters, Argo floats, XBTs, moorings, etc. Since 2014, sustained and targeted ocean observations have been gathered in support of hurricane intensity forecasts using underwater gliders.
Video credits: NOAA and GeoAmbiente del Caribe, Inc.