During the current peak of hurricane season, SCCF’s River, Estuary, and Coastal Observing Network (RECON) collects data every hour, providing critical information to help model and forecast the rapid intensification of tropical systems.

Recent storms impacting Southwest Florida exhibited rapid intensification within 24-36 hours, including Hurricanes Ian (Sept. 26-28, 2022), Helene (Sept. 26-27, 2024), and Milton (Oct. 7-9, 2024).

During Hurricane Ian, pictured above, RECON was severely compromised. Thanks to $200,000 in grant funds, scientists at the SCCF Marine Lab were able to replace equipment and to redeploy, troubleshoot, and return RECON sensors to full functionality sooner than initially expected.

“Our goal was to get all sites operational by the end of 2025,” said Marine Lab Manager A.J. Martignette. “Fortunately, we were able to complete the work ahead of schedule — all three weather stations have been replaced, and water quality sensor equipment is now broadcasting at all nine sites.”  

The network will be fully functioning once the wave buoy comes back online in 2026, thanks to a recent grant from the West Coast Inland Navigation District (WCIND) and Lee County, he added.

The RECON network has been supported by NOAA since 2011 through grants from the Gulf of America Coastal Ocean Observing Network (GCOOS).

Part-time Sanibel resident Dr. Nick Shay, Associate Dean and Professor in the Department of Ocean Sciences at the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science and a GCOOS Board member, explains how rapid intensification occurs.

“Rapid intensification involves several factors, including a well-developed inner core circulation, low to moderate shear in the atmosphere, moist air, a well-developed anticyclonic exhaust fan in the troposphere (similar to Michael in 2018 at landfall), air-sea interface fluxes of heat and moisture, and warm ocean temperatures,” he said. “The problem is that it often occurs within 24 to 36 hours of landfall, leaving little or no time for the public to prepare.”

Since its initial deployment in 2008, RECON has documented several tropical systems.

“Because the system reports in real time, it is a valuable resource for the public and for emergency managers to be able to see water levels, barometric pressures, wind speeds, turbidity, water temperature, and salinity as these climatological events unfold,” said Martignette.

The data are also pushed to larger networks of ocean data from around the Gulf to provide improved forecasts of tropical systems and harmful algal bloom events.