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Superstorms of the South of France
Reference
Sabatier, P., Dezileau, L., Condomines, M., Briqueu, L., Colin, C., Bouchette, F., Le Duff, M. and Blanchemanche, P. 2008. Reconstruction of paleostorm events in a coastal lagoon (Herault, South of France). Marine Geology 251: 224-232.

What was done
Working with historical accounts, as well as "sedimentology, granulometry and faunistic data," which they obtained from two cores of the Pierre Blanche lagoon just south of Montpellier, France, the authors found evidence in the form of "washover events" that allowed them "to identify the strongest storms in the Mediterranean area" over the past four centuries.

What was learned
Sabatier et al. say their analyses of washover deposits "provided evidence of three main storms," which they identified as occurring in 1742, 1839 and 1893, all of which were deemed to have been much stronger than any of the 20th century. In fact, a storm that occurred in 1982, which they describe as having been "the most recent catastrophic event," was not even "registered" in the lagoon sediment cores.

What it means
The eight researchers state that "finding records of past catastrophic storm events is essential to evaluate the long term climatic evolution in a given coastal area," which is the rationale they give as the reason for their study; and in this particular case, the evidence they acquired suggests that 20th-century global warming has apparently led to a decline in the occurrence of "superstorms" in the Mediterranean area -- if not their total disappearance -- which observation runs counter to the climate-alarmist claim that global warming both intensifies storms and brings more of them.

Reviewed 20 August 2008