The planes the government is using to monitor Hurricane Irma are at opposite ends of the tech spectrum

The National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration's Office of Marine and Aviation Operations has been busy lately, keeping an eye on hurricanes Harvey and Irma in a devastating early 2017 season.

NOAA operates three aircraft that it uses to study and predict the patterns and severity of hurricanes while they're still far from land.

The planes have different jobs - and represent completely different types of technology, from different eras.