The response of the ocean to hurricanes was investigated using aircraft-deployable expendable current profilers (AXCP). The goals were to observe and separate the surface wave and surface mixed layer (SML) velocities under the storms and to map the across-track and along-track velocity and temperature response in the mixed layer and thermocline. Custom instrumentation was prepared, including slower failing AXCPs, and the AXCP equipment was installed on NOAA WP-3D aircraft. Research flights were made into two 1984 hurricanes: Norbert, in the eastern Pacific off Baja California (19°N, 109°W), and Josephine, off the east coast of the United States (29°N, 72°W). Thirty-one probes were deployed in each hurricane, and about half the AXCPs provided temperature and velocity profiles. Most velocity profiles exhibited strong surface wave contributions, slablike velocities in the SML, strong shears beneath the SML, and only weak flows in the upper thermocline. Separation of the surface gravity wave velociti... Abstract The response of the ocean to hurricanes was investigated using aircraft-deployable expendable current profilers (AXCP). The goals were to observe and separate the surface wave and surface mixed layer (SML) velocities under the storms and to map the across-track and along-track velocity and temperature response in the mixed layer and thermocline. Custom instrumentation was prepared, including slower failing AXCPs, and the AXCP equipment was installed on NOAA WP-3D aircraft. Research flights were made into two 1984 hurricanes: Norbert, in the eastern Pacific off Baja California (19°N, 109°W), and Josephine, off the east coast of the United States (29°N, 72°W). Thirty-one probes were deployed in each hurricane, and about half the AXCPs provided temperature and velocity profiles. Most velocity profiles exhibited strong surface wave contributions, slablike velocities in the SML, strong shears beneath the SML, and only weak flows in the upper thermocline. Separation of the surface gravity wave velociti...