warming and hurricanes.

Bermuda Biological Station for Research scientists, led by Dr. Nicholas Bates, found that hurricanes produce carbon dioxide as they travel across the ocean.

Carbon dioxide is one of several "greenhouse'' gases in the atmosphere which trap heat and may cause global warming which some think is responsible for the past decade's record high temperatures.

Dr. Bates could not be reached for comment yesterday.

But a study due out today in the journal Nature shows that increased carbon dioxide levels were generated by three hurricanes in the Sargasso Sea during 1995.

On August 14 and 15, Hurricane Felix caused the ocean surface to cool as it passed overhead. Cooler water cannot hold as much dissolved carbon dioxide.

Meanwhile Felix's 130 mph winds churned the ocean surface into a foamy fury which increased the exchange of carbon dioxide with the atmosphere.

The pattern was repeated in September with Hurricanes Luis and Marilyn and the three storms increased the total amount of carbon dioxide transfer that summer by 55 percent.

However, the researchers could not precisely determine the contribution that hurricanes might make to global climate change.

The dynamics and local effects of hurricanes are well understood but climate experts have devoted little attention to the long-term atmospheric effects.

Some scientists argue that the findings from three storms over a four-week period are not sufficient to reach any firm conclusions about the effects of hurricanes on climate.

And scientists who specialise in global warming studies said hurricanes are powerful, but short-lived and localised, so they are just a small factor in global climate calculations.