WHOI physical oceanographer Steve Jayne flew with the US Air Force Reserve’s 53 Weather Reconnaissance Squadron to drop a suite of instruments into and ahead of Hurricane Ian as it approached Southwest Florida in September 2022. These included (in order of deployment in the video) MiniMet drifters supplied by Scripps Institution of Oceanography, air-launched expendable bathythermographs (AXBT), and air-launched autonomous micro observers (ALAMO). Together, these provide an inside look at oceanographic conditions in places no ship would dare venture that play a significant role in determining how a storm like Ian will develop and grow as it approaches land. Better predictions of storm intensity at landfall can mean life or death for those in its path. © Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
KHOU meteorologist Chita Craft flew with Jayne and the team aboard the Air Force Reserve airplane call sign TEAL71 as Ian made landfall:
https://www.khou.com/article/weather/…
More about ALAMO floats: https://alamo.whoi.edu/
More about MiniMet drifters: https://gdp.ucsd.edu/ldl/minimet/
