Dr. Lin's research on severe storms and hurricanes involves NOAA's Lockheed WP-3D Orion (NOAA P-3), commonly known as the "Hurricane Hunters". The P-3 aircraft plays a crucial role in collecting data essential for understanding tornadic storms and tropical cyclones. This highly capable four-engine turboprop plane also supports a wide variety of atmospheric and air chemistry missions.

Dr. Lin's research on severe storms uses airborne instruments deployed on the University of Wyoming's Beechcraft King Air 200T (UWKA). The UWKA is a twin-engine turboprop aircraft designed to support various research missions, particularly in cloud physics and boundary layer processes. In operation since 1977, the aircraft is managed by the Donald L. Veal Research Flight Center, which is part of the University of Wyoming's Department of Atmospheric Science.

Dr. Lin's research focuses on using uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS) to study tropical cyclones (TCs). He is part of the Emerging Technology Team at NOAA/AOML/HRD, which is led by the lead meteorologist Dr. Joe Cione. Traditional methods for collecting Hurricane Boundary Layer (HBL) data, such as crewed aircraft, have limitations in TC conditions due to safety concerns. In contrast, UAS can safely collect data from areas within TCs that are too dangerous for crewed aircraft to access. The UAS is launched from the NOAA P-3 Hurricane Hunter aircraft by the Emerging Technology Team during the annual Hurricane Field Programs.

Dr. Lin's research in Storm-ABL interaction is built on airborne measurements, including Airborne Compact Raman Lidar (CRL). CRL is developed by Prof. Zhien Wang at Stony Brook University. It can provide simultaneous water vapor, temperature, aerosol, and cloud profiles within the planetary boundary layer (PBL) from UWKA, NSF/NCAR C-130, and NOAA P-3. It uses a compact, lightweight transmitting-receiving system (12-inch telescope). Past CRL measurements demonstrated that CRL offers excellent measurements to characterize ABL structures from airborne platforms.