Sardines, sharks, and just about all sea-adjacent critters often get a little shifty ahead of a big storm. But while oceanographic vessels and satellites have traditionally offered most of our data on developing depressions, sharks can provide critical subsurface metrics, swimming through depths that satellite surface scans and research vessels miss.

Of course, gathering so much sea-surface data could have great implications for surf forecasting, too: The data could inform prediction models’ estimated size, power, and delivery windows of groundswells.

“This is the part of the water column that really drives hurricane intensity,” University of Delaware Marine Scientist Aaron Carlisle told Reuters. “A warmer mixed layer equals [a] stronger hurricane, as it holds the heat that feeds hurricanes.”

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