LEWES- Research conducted on Delmarva could lead to better weather forecasts for the region. 

Scientists in Lewes are learning new ways to predict the weather by studying patterns in the ocean. Experts say we know more about outer space than we do our own oceans. But a new partnership combined with the right equipment could lead to the answers they have been waiting for.

Dr. David T. Ho of Columbia University and Dr. Fabrice Veron, an ocean science professor at the University of Delaware may work for different universities but both share the same goal. They say proper research on air and sea patterns can one day lead to answers about our weather.

"We are studying the transfers between the ocean and the atmosphere and how rain effects most of the air and sea transfers," Veron said. "Little is known about that. 

At UD's College of Marine Studies in Lewes, there is a large tank of water that according to Ho and Veron, acts like the Atlantic Ocean, just on a smaller scale. They say it is a great way to study the air and sea.

"It's really the first of its kind to look at the effects of these two common processes," Ho said.

Ho said the the work being done at the Lewes facility cannot be performed in just any laboratory.

"There really aren't that many places in the world where this experiment could be done in a systematic way and this is one of those facilities," he said.

Researchers say their experiments on the ocean is something that no one else has ever attempted.

"It's new physics that hasn't been done," said Emily Harrison, of the College of Marine Studies. "You can see it and it has a useful purpose."

Ho said this project has been long coming.

"It took a while to find the appropriate facility to do it and when we met Fabrice that's when we realized we have something in common, so it's a good partnership," Ho said. It is hoped that this partnership could eventually lead to better forecasting.>

The University of Delaware, NASA and Columbia University are all teaming up on the project.     Hopes are that this research will help predict weather years in advance.