Making hurricane predictions is all about having accurate data. For the third straight year the Gulf of Mexico Coastal Ocean Observing System (GCOOS) is working with teams in Florida, Mississippi and Texas to track and share data from a “glider picket line” in the Gulf. The picket line is a series of unmanned underwater robots, known as gliders, set loose in the Gulf, Caribbean Sea and Atlantic Ocean that are programmed to collect information on ocean parameters areas where storms/hurricanes typically travel. The robots collect data from throughout the water column to map ocean heat content, which is a critical factor in predicting a storm’s intensity. The gliders enhance the information available from satellites, which can only take the temperature of the ocean’s surface. The gliders transmit data in near-real time via satellite to GCOOS, where it is automatically processed into maps that show the gliders’ locations and 3D profiles of temperature and other parameters, such as salinity. Meteorologists can then feed the data into hurricane models to generate forecasts showing where storms are likely to go and how intense they might become. (Source: GCOOOS 08/25/20) https://gandalf.gcoos.org. The GCOOS office is located at Texas A&M University in College Station.
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