Researchers at the University of Delaware have given sharks a new purpose: weather forecasting. A year after achieving the first-ever transmission of live ocean data from a tagged shark, scientists are advancing an innovative experiment that could one day help meteorologists better predict the intensity of hurricanes — using the open ocean as a data source, and sharks as the sensors.
From sea to satellite
The concept is elegant and ambitious. Sharks fitted with instruments that measure conductivity, temperature, and depth (CTD) dive naturally through the ocean, collecting real-time oceanographic data as they go. When the sharks surface — which they do regularly — the instruments transmit their measurements to orbiting satellites. From there, data flows to researchers working to understand whether this information can provide useful insight into one of the ocean's most important hurricane variables: upper-ocean heat content.
"They are amazing animals perfectly adapted to the ocean, and we can learn a huge amount from them," said Prof. Aaron Carlisle, principal investigator on the project. "If we can show that sharks can help people, it's a win-win situation."
Why ocean heat matters for hurricanes
When a hurricane travels across the ocean, warm surface water fuels it. The more heat stored in the upper layers of the ocean — and the deeper that warm water extends — the more energy a hurricane can draw on as it spins toward land. This is why meteorologists study ocean heat content closely in the days before a major storm.
Until recently, researchers relied on fixed buoys, satellite measurements, and robotic "gliders" — small autonomous submarines that dive and resurface while collecting temperature and salinity data. These gliders are expensive, relatively slow-moving, and limited in the areas they can cover.
Sharks, by comparison, are already there. They naturally roam vast stretches of the Atlantic — exactly the areas where hurricane monitoring is most valuable.
The candidates: makos, blues, hammerheads, and juvenile whites
The University of Delaware team has identified four species as particularly promising for the project: shortfin mako sharks, blue sharks, smooth hammerhead sharks, and juvenile great white sharks. These species are suitable because they regularly surface, allowing dorsal-fin sensors to break the waterline and transmit data to satellites. They also cover substantial distances across the Atlantic during seasonal migrations, effectively becoming mobile oceanographic sampling stations.
The approach is still in the research and validation phase. The team is comparing shark-collected measurements against buoy and glider data from the same locations to test reliability and accuracy.
A win-win for science and conservation
The project has an appealing side effect: to attach and operate the sensors effectively, researchers need to understand shark behavior and migration far better than they currently do. The tagging program generates rich data about where sharks go, how deep they dive, and how they respond to changing ocean temperatures — information with independent value for marine biologists and conservationists.
Shortfin mako and smooth hammerhead sharks are both listed as endangered by the IUCN. Better data on their movements and behavior could inform conservation policy and marine protected area boundaries.
The next step: hurricane season
Researchers hope to build a dataset large enough to assess whether shark-gathered ocean temperature profiles can meaningfully improve hurricane intensity forecasts — ideally contributing to operational weather prediction within the next few years. A single storm system that forecasters can better characterize even a few hours earlier could give coastal populations additional time to prepare and evacuate.
The experiment is a reminder that innovation doesn't always look the way we expect. Sometimes the best ocean data comes from the creatures that have been sampling the sea for hundreds of millions of years.
