Hurricanes of the North Atlantic: Climate and Society

Called the greatest storms on the planet, hurricanes of the North Atlantic Ocean often cause tremendous social and economic upheaval in the United States, Mexico, and the Caribbean. And with the increasing development of coastal areas, the impact of these storms is likely to increase. This book provides a comprehensive analysis if North Atlantic hurricanes and what they mean to society. It is intended as an intermediary between hurricane climate research and the users of hurricane information. Topics include the climatology of tropical cyclones in general and those of the North Atlantic in particular; the major North Atlantic hurricanes, focusing on US landfalling storms; the prediction models used in forecasting; and societal vulnerability to hurricanes, including ideas for modeling the relationship between climatological data and analysis in the social and economic sciences.

"A professor of meteorology and geography at Florida State University and a contractor for the US Naval Research Laboratory at NASA assess North Atlantic hurricanes and their consequences, covering historical data sets, hurricane statistics, prediction models used in forecasting, and societal vulnerability to hurricanes. Of likely interest to meteorologists, climatologists, and economists, as well as decision makers in government and industry."--SciTech Book News

"Elsner (Florida State Univ.) and Kara (NASA) offer an excellent review of past tropical storms. Every conceivable presentation--lists, figures, tables, and maps--shows how they have affected each coas