DANBURY, CONN. — The number of hurricanes has doubled over the past century causing scientists to look more closely at the effects of global warming — and experts at Western Connecticut State University are now joining in that research.

This summer, Dr. Albert Owino, director of the university’s Weather Center and chairman of the physics, astronomy and meteorology department, will start a Hurricane Research Program in collaboration with the Climate Studies Group of the University of the West Indies, Jamaica, to analyze large-scale circulation features over the Atlantic Ocean.

“We want to understand the inter-annual variability of hurricanes — the difference between seasons one year after another,” Owino said. “In El Nino years, hurricane activity is suppressed and in La Nina years it is enhanced and that is of predictive value. The state of the ocean can be predicted six months in advance, which means that we can give guidance on the climate.”

Owino, who came to WestConn in 2005, worked on a similar program as a member of the Climate Studies Group at the University of West Indies. Still a member of that group, Owino said that WestConn provides the perfect environment in which to continue the collaborated research. If he secures a grant to help fund the work, Owino said he would like to open up the program as an undergraduate course in the meteorology program. There are currently two students committed to doing research on a volunteer basis.

“With or without a grant we will do the work,” Owino said. The university will be installing computers and software to assist in the research. The students will begin to analyze climatology through statistical analysis techniques this summer. “I will lead the research program and we hope to have publications and will modify some of the work and research already done by the Climate Studies Group.”

While this information can help determine what the next season will bring as far as hurricane activity is concerned, the statistics, Owino said, don’t convey cause and effect. But the

explanation of the cause and effect, or the dynamics, can help predict the future intensity of circulation.

“It is important because of the continued debate on whether global warming can have an effect on hurricane intensity and frequency,” Owino said. “The general population is aware of climate change, but the decisions that we take now to curb global warming can predict what happens in the future and we can begin to look at the range of possibilities in controlling global climate.”

“We don’t have a lot of hurricanes here in this area,” Owino said, “but the effects of hurricanes go far beyond the hurricane itself.”

For more information, contact Owino at (203) 837-8361.

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