NOAA, in partnership with The University of Southern Mississippi and with the robotics company Oshen , launched five small uncrewed surface vehicles (USVs) called C-Stars in the waters off the U.S. Virgin Islands on August 31st to collect critical data to better understand hurricane development and activity. The deployment is the latest effort by NOAA to advance data collection to improve hurricane research and forecasting.

Two additional C-Stars are being stored in Gulfport, Mississippi, ready for launch ahead of actively developing storms in the Gulf this fall.

“Understanding weather conditions where the ocean surface meets the lower atmosphere is key to predicting hurricane intensity,” said Greg Foltz, oceanographer for NOAA’s Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laborat

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