When it comes to the computer models that create weather forecasts, the more input data, the better and the more accurate the resulting forecast. That data can come from weather balloons, satellites, observation stations and now, potentially, sharks.

The Shark Research Lab at the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology has been experimenting with just that.

By attaching satellite tags to the dorsal fins of tiger sharks in the waters surrounding Hawaii, the team has been able to collect near-real-time data from the sharks.

But unlike many other satellite tags that are only used for tracking wild animals, these tags are also collecting data on ocean temperatures, including sea surface temperatures (earlier versions of the tags also measured oxygen levels). Whenever the shark’s fin surfaces, all of that information can be relayed by satellite and land-based receivers to the Pacific Islands Ocean Observing System (PacIOOS).

(MORE: Our week-long exploration of sharks, from their forecasting capabilities to their public perception)

“These profiles can be used by oceanographers to improve their circulation models and, we hope, by meteorologists to improve their forecasts — ocean heat content can be estimated using our plots,” explains Kim Holland, the principal investigator for the project and founder of the Shark Research Lab at the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology.

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Sharks as the next generation of weather stations

Unlike land, researchers can’t just go out and affix a permanent weather observation station in the middle of large bodies of water. Even if they could, there would be limited ability for that station to take measurements deeper in the water column.

This is where the sharks come in.

(MORE: An army of weather stations helps NOAA monitor the ocean)

Sharks are uniquely adapted to collect useful data for oceanographic and meteorological modeling. They do not need to surface for air like marine mammals and sea turtles, and they have rigid dorsal fins that can support a satellite tag.

Whenever a shark dives, that tag is constantly collecting information on the water around it, creating profiles of the water column that track how characteristics change with depth. Much of this data is collected in areas frequented by the particular species and key biological ecosystems.

There are still hurdles, though.

Because sharks are fish, they do not need to surface, and when they do surface, they do not need to remain there for long. This limits the opportunities for satellites and land-based receivers to receive data from the tags.

There is also a delay in the data transmission, though it is still within a window that makes it useful for oceanographic and large-scale meteorological modeling.

Because these are wild animals, there is no way to control where they go and when they go there. However, different species of sharks can collect different data simply by following their own natural behavior patterns.

(MORE: Ask A Met: How can two forecasts be different?)

Eventually, Holland and the team behind the project hope to make the data collected by sharks in the study available in real-time to weather forecasting models, as characteristics of the ocean water can be vital to forecasting large-scale systems such as tropical cyclones.

Higher ocean heat content can fuel stronger storms, and when that warm water goes deeper, the churning of the upper levels of the ocean doesn’t cool the ocean’s surface as much.

What’s new and what’s next

This is still an ongoing project, so progress is still being made.

“We do have an active ongoing track from an oceanic whitetip shark (a 'first' for us), and it has so far provided us with 29 profiles from around the Big Island of Hawaii — a region of ocean extremely data-poor,” explains Holland.

The project also hopes to make the data available to the WMO Global Telecommunication System, which helps distribute observations and processed information for the World Weather Watch.

Once this data is easily accessible to weather forecasting models, we could see sharks, in essence, become mobile weather stations. Pretty jaw-some, right?

Sara Tonks is a content meteorologist with weather.com and has a bachelor’s and a master’s degree from Georgia Tech in Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, along with a master’s degree from Unity Environmental University in Marine Science.