understand a storm, scientists say more data needs to be collected from the surface of the ocean. >> what drives hurricane consistent is transfer of heat and moisture to the atmosphere. we don't understand the dynamics how it works. >> reporter: to find out, they deployed five ships to the caribbean, areas where lots of hurricanes develop and are likely to hit land. powered by sun and wind, can stay at sea months at a time, built to take a beating. >> it is designed to get hit by wave, tumble, submerge, come back up. >> i see a camera up top. >> hurricane mission, it is key to understand spray, foam on the water. hoping to see with the camera what it looks like. >> reporter: drone sensors and cameras can send data and images in real time back to headquarters. >> these are measurements of wind, temperature, humidity, right at that interface level that may help modelers understand fundamentals of hurricanes before. that's never been done before.