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Loading Alamo

September 25, 2015

Aboard a U.S. Air Force “Hurricane Hunter” airplane at 5,000 feet, WHOI scientist Steve Jayne (right) and Chief Master Sergeant Mike McDonald load an ALAMO (Air-launched Autonomous Micro Observer) profiling float into the launch tube. The floats drop by parachute to the ocean, then travel  between the surface and 1,000 meters (3,300 feet) depth, recording water temperatures as they go and reporting back to shore by satellite. Flying near the Bahamas on August 29, 2015, Jayne and McDonald sent this float into Tropical Storm Erika, to transmit its data to shore. (Photo courtesy of U.S. Air Force/Maj. Marnee A.C. Losurdo)