Sharks Fitted with Sensors to Help Hurricane Predictions

From the killer shark of "Jaws" to the tornado-tossed predators of the "Sharknado" movies, films long have portrayed sharks as objects of summer fear. But when a shark cuts through the waters off the U.S. East Coast, it now may be doing more than hunting. It may also be gathering data that helps scientists understand the potential intensity of a hurricane before it makes landfall.

University of Delaware researchers are testing whether sharks can serve as mobile near-real-time ocean-data observers, carrying sensors that measure ocean conditions to inform oceanographic, atmospheric and climate models.

These CTD tags are small electronic devices that measure ocean electrical conductivity — a metric closely related to salinity — as well as temperature and depth, as marine creatures to which they are attached swim and dive.

"Animal-borne sensors have been used successfully by oceanographers for years, particularly on elephant seals in polar regions where scientific observations are scarce," said Aaron Carlisle, principal investigator and a professor in the university's School of Marine Science and Policy.

Sharks offer a new opportunity in such research because they are abundant, widely distributed and easier to access than many protected marine mammals, Carlisle said.

Until now, shark tagging typically has tracked