Drones are already being used in various research works which help predict weather conditions accurately. Veerabhadran Ramanathan, a researcher with the Scripps Institute of Oceanography had previously conducted researches using larger aircraft but found that it was a very expensive venture.
He later realized that it would be less expensive and easier to use drones for the same purpose at a much more reduced cost. In the course of his work, he flew three unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) over the Indian Ocean from where he and his team gathered data which showed that black carbon was the second largest cause of global warming.