Thursday, Feb. 21, 2008 10:29 PST
Prehistoric hurricane spotting
Word of the day: Paleotempestology
The study of prehistoric tropical cyclones, via various geological "proxies" such as flood-generated sedimentary structures.
Coined by M.I.T. hurricane scientist Kerry Emanuel, the relevance of such research is in determining whether climate change is causing an increased incidence of extreme storm events as compared to the historical record.
But according to Real Climate, the practice of paleotempestology is not easy, and "there is undoubtedly a long way to go before the reconstruction of extreme events (like hurricanes) in the past will be anything more than suggestive."