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Hurricane season

A look at Silver Beach in North Falmouth, Ma., after the hurricane of 1938 shows the extensive damage a hurricane can do to the coast.  Researchers at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution are trying to better understand future storms by understanding past hurricanes.  By analyzing sediments from core samples taken from salt marshes along the New England coast, researchers are able to construct a record of major hurricane activity stretching back 600 to 1,000 years —well beyond the meteorological data. Such a long record may allow scientists to estimate the long-term return rates of intense, land-falling hurricanes.
(Photo courtesy of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Archives)