Hamilton, Bermuda (October 28, 2019)—Global experts on climate change are among an impressive lineup of scientists and reinsurance industry leaders joining entrepreneur-philanthropist Michael Bloomberg and Bermuda Premier David Burt this Wednesday at the first Bermuda Climate Risk Forum.

Samantha Hallam, a doctoral student at the University of Southampton National Oceanography Centre in the United Kingdom, has been fascinated by storms since she spent time sailing dinghies as a little girl in her hometown of Hampshire, England. This interest in “storminess,” as she puts it, drove her education, beginning with an undergraduate degree in environmental science from the University of East Anglia in 1990. This was followed by a master’s degree in ocean science from the University of Southampton in 2014, where her thesis research was on ocean influences on the North Atlantic jet stream – a narrow band of fast-moving wind that plays a large role in weather across western Europe.

As society begins to see more evidence of global climate change—a rise in ocean temperatures and acidity, an increase in both the number and frequency of extreme weather events, and declining glaciers and Artic Sea ice, among other trends—coastal communities around the world are seeking ways to identify and mitigate the risks posed by a rapidly changing ocean. Doing so will require the knowledge and skills from experts in a wide range of fields, including risk analysis, oceanography, environmental security, and law.

A BIOS glider used for undersea research in the Sargasso Sea was one focus of a tour of BIOS with London-based Kylie Bamford (center), head of marine conservation for the overseas territories within the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Joining her was Barry Bobin-Martin (right), executive officer at Government House in Bermuda.

The Ocean Risk Summit, held May 8-10 in Bermuda at the Fairmont Southampton Princess, was a first-of-its-kind event bringing together individuals from the political, economic, environmental, and risk sectors to examine the challenges and risks posed by ocean change and identify innovative approaches to building resilience.

Research on coastal sediments, funded in part by BIOS’s Risk Prediction Initiative, shows that prehistoric hurricanes along the northern East Coast of the United States were likely more frequent and intense than those that have hit within recorded history.  The hurricanes that battered New England in the first millennium were produced in part by warmer sea surface temperatures in the Atlantic Ocean.  By looking to the past, these data can help scientists better predict the frequency and intensity of future hurricanes as the ocean continues to warm due to climate change.

Frank Nutter, president of the Reinsurance Association of America and former BIOS trustee, recently went on record saying that the industry he represents is, at its core, based in science. “It’s critical that the industry be knowledgeable about developments from the science community that reflect increasing knowledge about climate and weather.”

Subtropical Storm Andrea formed last week and was named by the National Hurricane Center in Miami, Florida, the agency responsible for monitoring all tropical disturbances in the Atlantic. This marks the first named storm of 2019, even before the official start of the Atlantic hurricane season, which begins June 1 and runs through November 30.  Dr. Mark Guishard, program manager of the Risk Prediction Initiative at BIOS, explained how the storms form and their potential impacts.

Doctoral student Pinelopi Loizou of Cyprus spent twelve weeks this summer working at BIOS with mentor Mark Guishard, a meteorologist by training and project manager of the BIOS Risk Prediction Initiative (RPI), to investigate the topic of hurricane variability using Bermuda as a study site.