Between 800 and 1,700 years ago, the northeast coast of the place that eventually became continental United States was battered heavily by hurricanes, according to geoscientists from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (WHOI).

These monster hurricanes are threatening to make a comeback in the New England region, Caribbean and southeastern U.S. as oceans warm, new research from the two institutions said, reports National Monitor.

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The basis of their forecast is a study made on sediment deposits in Cape Cod where the researchers found evidence of more intense hurricanes unseen in recent New England history. In particular, they scoured the Salt Pound near Falmouth, which is isolated from the Atlantic Ocean by a sand barrier that measures 4.3 to 5.9 feet.

For the analysis, the geoscientists got a 30-foot sediment core, which is similar to tree ring dating. These are sediments deposited from severe storms into the pond that has remained undisturbed over the hundreds of years that passed.

They discovered that from 250 CE until 1150 CE, intense storms often battered the region.

There were 23 severe hurricanes that hit New England from 250 through 1150, or once every 40 years, with intensity like a category 3 or 4 like Hurricane Katrina or Hugo.

The study, published in the current issue of Earth's Future journal, owned by the American Geophysical Union, is the first to discover historic evidence of severe hurricanes in the northeast.

WHOI scholar Dana MacDonald said that what helped them identify age of the sediments were the large changes in the pollen that reflected clearing of a landscape and entry of European plants.

John Woodruff from the University of Massachusetts points out, "The study shows that our region has been prone to storms of far greater magnitude than those impacting the area over the past century. With so many more people, structures, roads and bridges in place now, we should begin to design and plan these higher-magnitude events."

Tagshurricane, New England, US Northeast