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Hurricane Hunters

September 12, 2016

Sometimes studying the ocean requires that scientists take to the air, as physical oceanographer Steve Jayne did with the Air Force 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron. Jayne flew with aircraft commander Lt. Col. Brad Boudreaux (left) and co-pilot Maj. Brad Roundtree on a C-130 into Hurricane Madeline recently as the storm passed near the island of Hawai’i. During the flight, Jayne deployed three Air-launched Autonomous Micro Observer (ALAMO) floats, robotic instruments designed to make repeated measurements of ocean temperature and salinity from the surface to 1000 meters (3,300 feet) in advance of a hurricane to help researchers understand the ocean properties that can fuel or inhibit a storm’s development. (Photo by Steve Jayne, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)