changes, an oceanographer said yesterday.

Dr. Tony Michaels, from the Bermuda Biological Station, was talking to a meeting of the Hamilton Rotary Club explaining briefly how scientists can forecast such things as hurricanes and floods.

He was talking on the subject of `Connecting Science to Business, the Risk Prediction Initiative,'' which is linked primarily to the insurance sector.

"If we can understand the underlying basis that drives the climate we can predict how it will behave in the future,'' said Dr. Michaels.

Weather is driven mostly by the ocean and its warmth. He said as the ocean moved so the atmosphere and therefore the weather moved with it.

"We want to bring the scientists and the business people together. Some Bermuda companies are involved in this initiative as are some US companies,'' added Dr. Michaels.

"We can build a picture of the world into a computer that allows us to do experiments inside the computer -- like how hurricanes are created and modified by the climate and what will happen in the future.''