An interesting article on how Dr. Jerry Ault was able to use his tarpon satellite tagging research to help University of Miami colleague Nick Shay make more accurate hurricane forecasts. Shay was plotting the depth and location of the 26° C isotherm–a zone of warm water that meteorologists find useful since hurricanes are known to intensify when the pass over pockets of warm water in the ocean. The deeper the water, the more intense the storm becomes. At the same time, Dr. Ault was using satellite tags to track tarpon and found that tarpon adhere to the 26° C isotherm in their annual migration through the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea. What they realized is that the tarpon data could help fill the gaps of Shay’s satellite model. Read the article and learn more about the tarpon tagging and other ways animals are being used as oceanographers here: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/next/nature/animals-as-oceanographers/
