Fifty sharks, tuna, tarpon and billfish are swimming around the Gulf of Mexico right now fitted with satellite-linked tags to help scientists track water temperatures and perhaps one day help improve hurricane forecasting. The devices were put there by researchers at the University of Miami who have tagged a total of 750 animals in the past 10 years to record water temperature and salinity at different depths.
The fish had merely provided data of interest to biologists, but earlier this year scientists realized the temperature figures coming back from the animals could be crucial to humans living in the path of hurricanes.
Biological sensors
Since the strength of a hurricane depends largely on the amount of warm water it hits as it forms, the idea is that the data from sharks could help weather forecasters plot more accurately just how big a storm may get by telling them how hot the water is.
“The fish act as biological sensors,” said marine biologist Jerald Ault. “The fish dive, so they create a vertical picture of what the water temperature looks like.”
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