A parabolic resonance is formed when an integrable two-degrees-of-freedom (d.o.f.) Hamiltonian system possessing a circle of parabolic fixed points is perturbed. It is proved that its occurrence is generic for one parameter families (co-dimension one phenomenon) of near-integrable, two d.o.f. Hamiltonian systems. Numerical experiments indicate that the motion near a parabolic resonance exhibits a new type of chaotic behavior which includes instabilities in some directions and long trapping times in others. Moreover, in a degenerate case, near a flat parabolic resonance, large scale instabilities appear. A model arising from an atmospherical study is shown to exhibit flat parabolic resonance. This supplies a simple mechanism for the transport of particles with small (i.e. atmospherically relevant) initial velocities from the vicinity of the equator to high latitudes. A modification of the model which allows the development of atmospherical jets unfolds the degeneracy, yet traces of the flat instabilities are clearly observed. (c) 1997 American Institute of Physics.