AdvertisementBird, Plane, Bacteria? Microbes Thrive In Storm CloudsJanuary 29, 2013Véronique LaCaprafacebookEmailThe eye of Hurricane Earl in the Atlantic Ocean, seen from a NASA research aircraft on Aug. 30, 2010. This flight through the eyewall caught Earl just as it was intensifying from a Category 2 to a Category 4 hurricane. Researchers collected air samples on this flight from about 30,000 feet over both land and sea and close to 100 different species of bacteria. (NASA)