Could Sharks Hold Key to Hurricane Forecasts? Ken Kaye - SunSentinel
go to original March 2, 2014

Tagging a Mako: Scientists have tagged sharks, tarpon and other fish to learn more about the heat content of the oceans, something that might help tropical forecasts. (SWFSC)

More than 750 sharks, tarpon, tuna and billfish, fitted with satellite-linked tags, are providing scientists with data on temperature and salinity at various depths in the Atlantic, Gulf and Caribbean. It's information they hope could someday be used to improve hurricane forecasts, since a storm's strength largely depends on how much warm water it will encounter.

"What the fish are providing is a profile of the ocean's heat structure," said Jerald Ault, a marine biology professor at the University of Miami. "You get a picture of what the upper layers of the ocean look like."

Ault and other scientists at UM's Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science started tagging tarpon in 2001 and sharks in 2010 to learn more about migration, feeding and reproduction. About three years ago, they discovered a remarkable pattern: the fish remained in waters that were about 79 degrees, the minimum required for tropical systems to develop.

In addition, many swam into the waters around tropical systems, which churned up nutrients and made hunting for food easier.

That's when scientists realized that fish could provide accurate ocean temperatures, which could be fed into the computer models that forecasters use to develop tropical predictions.

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