MIAMI—As hurricane season enters its second week, scientists are gearing up to unleash a new tool that stands to improve their ability to predict intensity, the component of a storm that most confounds forecasters.

Hurricane researchers for years have deployed an array of aircraft to help predict a storm's strength and path, from "Hurricane Hunter" turboprops that fly into its core to unmanned Global Hawks that cruise high above it. But one of the most critical areas of a hurricane—its lowest section, where the...