As Hurricane Fiona heads on a path northward, a Bermudian-based company and an American university have announced the launch of a hurricane-focused research collaboration.

Aeolus Capital Management Ltd and the State University of New York at Albany department of atmospheric and environmental sciences are to collaborate on the study, which will be led by Pete Dailey, head of research at Aeolus.

The company said Dr Dailey is a renowned expert in climate catastrophe model development and analytics.

The quantitative study aims to better understand the leading indicators of hurricane development and tracking.

Research will be specifically looking at the medium-term time horizon — the period between short-term weather forecasts (days) and climate projections (several months/years).

Dr Dailey said: "We are excited to launch this research partnership with Dr Robert Fovell and other faculty and graduate students at the University at Albany.

“By applying machine-learning techniques such as self-organising maps to hurricane data, the goal is to identify weather and climate patterns that signal risk before hurricanes strike.

“The insights we hope to take away from this study should advance our scientific understanding of hurricane risk and, ultimately, lead to better portfolio management decisions."

Dr Fovell, professor of atmospheric and environmental sciences, said: "This is an important study into hurricane risk projections that looks to bridge the gap between short-term weather forecasts with lead times of a few days and medium-term climate projections with lead times of several months, with a specific focus on landfalling hurricanes.

“We look forward to our partnership with Aeolus to help improve our understanding of hurricane formation and movement."