Tropical cyclones over the Mediterranean Sea in climate change simulations

Abstract The Mediterranean has been identified as one of the most responsive regions to climate change. It has been conjectured that one of the effects of a warmer climate could be to make the Mediterranean Sea prone to the formation of hurricanes. Already in the present climate regime, however, a few of the numerous low pressure systems that form in the area develop a dynamical evolution similar to the one of tropical cyclones. Even if their spatial extent is generally smaller and the life cycle shorter compared to tropical cyclones, such storms produce severe damage on the highly populated coastal areas surrounding the Mediterranean Sea. This study, based on the analysis of individual realistically simulated storms in homogeneous long-term and high-resolution data from multiple climate change scenarios, shows that the projected effect of climate change on Mediterranean tropical-like cyclones is decreased frequency and a tendency toward a moderate increase of intensity.

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Risk of Tropical Cyclones over the Mediterranean Sea in a Climate Change Scenario

Hurricanes and Climate Change ◽

10.1007/978-0-387-09410-6_13 ◽

2008 ◽

pp. 235-250 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Miguel Angel Gaertner ◽

Enrique Sánchez ◽

Marta Domínguez ◽

Victoria Gil ◽

Miguel Angel Gaertner

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Mediterranean Sea ◽

Tropical Cyclones ◽

Climate Change Scenario ◽

Change Scenario ◽

The Mediterranean

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Impact of air–sea coupling on the climate change signal over the Iberian Peninsula

Climate Dynamics ◽

10.1007/s00382-021-05812-x ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Alba de la Vara ◽

William Cabos ◽

Dmitry V. Sein ◽

Claas Teichmann ◽

Daniela Jacob

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Iberian Peninsula ◽

Mediterranean Sea ◽

Large Scale ◽

Regional Distribution ◽

Coupled Model ◽

Climate Change Signal ◽

The North ◽

The Mediterranean ◽

The Impact

AbstractIn this work we use a regional atmosphere–ocean coupled model (RAOCM) and its stand-alone atmospheric component to gain insight into the impact of atmosphere–ocean coupling on the climate change signal over the Iberian Peninsula (IP). The IP climate is influenced by both the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean sea. Complex interactions with the orography take place there and high-resolution models are required to realistically reproduce its current and future climate. We find that under the RCP8.5 scenario, the generalized 2-m air temperature (T2M) increase by the end of the twenty-first century (2070–2099) in the atmospheric-only simulation is tempered by the coupling. The impact of coupling is specially seen in summer, when the warming is stronger. Precipitation shows regionally-dependent changes in winter, whilst a drier climate is found in summer. The coupling generally reduces the magnitude of the changes. Differences in T2M and precipitation between the coupled and uncoupled simulations are caused by changes in the Atlantic large-scale circulation and in the Mediterranean Sea. Additionally, the differences in projected changes of T2M and precipitation with the RAOCM under the RCP8.5 and RCP4.5 scenarios are tackled. Results show that in winter and summer T2M increases less and precipitation changes are of a smaller magnitude with the RCP4.5. Whilst in summer changes present a similar regional distribution in both runs, in winter there are some differences in the NW of the IP due to differences in the North Atlantic circulation. The differences in the climate change signal from the RAOCM and the driving Global Coupled Model show that regionalization has an effect in terms of higher resolution over the land and ocean.

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First record of Solea (Microchirus) boscanion (Osteichthyes: Soleidae) in the Mediterranean Sea, with data on other sympatric soleid species

Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom ◽

10.1017/s0025315402006331 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 82 (5) ◽

pp. 907-911 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Enric Massutí ◽

J.A. Reina-Hervás ◽

Domingo Lloris ◽

L. Gil de Sola

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Mediterranean Sea ◽

First Record ◽

Western Mediterranean ◽

The Other ◽

The Mediterranean

The capture of five specimens of Solea (Microchirus) boscanion (Osteichthyes: Soleidae), a species previously unrecorded in the Mediterranean, is reported from the Iberian coast (western Mediterranean). The main morphometric and meristic measurements of this species with data of the other sympatric, and morphologically very similar, soleids Microchirus variegatus and Buglossidium luteum are also given. The record is discussed in relation to climate change and competition between species.

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Mediterranean Sea climatic indices: monitoring long term variability and climate changes

10.5194/essd-2018-51 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Athanasia Iona ◽

Athanasios Theodorou ◽

Sarantis Sofianos ◽

Sylvain Watelet ◽

Charles Troupin ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Time Series ◽

Mediterranean Sea ◽

Climate Changes ◽

Salt Content ◽

Climatic Indices ◽

In Situ Observations ◽

The Mediterranean

Abstract. We present a new product composed of a set of thermohaline climatic indices from 1950 to 2015 for the Mediterranean Sea such as decadal temperature and salinity anomalies, their mean values over selected depths, decadal ocean heat and salt content anomalies at selected depth layers as well as their long times series. It is produced from a new high-resolution climatology of temperature and salinity on a 1/8° regular grid based on historical high quality in situ observations. Ocean heat and salt content differences between 1980–2015 and 1950–1979 are compared for evaluation of the climate shift in the Mediterranean Sea. The spatial patterns of heat and salt content shifts demonstrate in greater detail than ever before that the climate changes differently in the several regions of the basin. Long time series of heat and salt content for the period 1950 to 2015 are also provided which indicate that in the Mediterranean Sea there is a net mean volume warming and salting since 1950 with acceleration during the last two decades. The time series also show that the ocean heat content seems to fluctuate on a cycle of about 40 years and seems to follow the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation climate cycle indicating that the natural large scale atmospheric variability could be superimposed on to the warming trend. This product is an observations-based estimation of the Mediterranean climatic indices. It relies solely on spatially interpolated data produced from in-situ observations averaged over decades in order to smooth the decadal variability and reveal the long term trends with more accuracy. It can provide a valuable contribution to the modellers' community, next to the satellite-based products and serve as a baseline for the evaluation of climate-change model simulations contributing thus to a better understanding of the complex response of the Mediterranean Sea to the ongoing global climate change. The product is available here: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1210100.

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