The Mediterranean and climate change: An online participatory simulation – Results from the front lines

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Crookall ◽  
Isabel Caballero-Leiva ◽  
Laksh Sharma ◽  
Pimnutcha Promduangsri ◽  
Pariphat Promduangsri
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Professional Growth ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Human Interaction ◽  
Free Form ◽  
Great Success ◽  
Feedback Form ◽  
Ocean Science ◽  
Participatory Simulation ◽  
The Mediterranean

<p>Modern, educational simulation/games (s/g) have a rich legacy, stretching back to the 1960s.  They are used today for communicating science in educational, environmental or governmental organizations.  Other uses are to help groups and organizations conduct research, solve complex problems or make collective decisions.</p><p>Over the last two decades, a particularly powerful, but underused, form of s/g has developed, called participatory simulation (PS).  It contains (elements of) game, simulation, role-play, experience, human interaction, decision-making, negotiation, engagement, stakeholder, etc.  It is often large scale, open ended, goal and results oriented, free form and data driven.  Of course, debriefing is a crucial component.</p><p>Last summer (2020), the International Oceans-Climate School (IOCS), of the Ocean Open University (OOP), France, planned to organize an in-person summer school with a PS as its capstone event.  We then postponed and made it an autumn school.  It then became clear that this also was impossible, and so, after some hesitation, we scrambled to turn it into an online PS (OPS).</p><p>The theme was “<em>The Mediterranean and climate change: Impacts, people, action</em>”.  Our overarching goal was to help participants understand the <strong>oceans-climate nexus</strong> and to become better <strong>ocean-climate-literate stakeholders</strong>.  The IOCS is an official event of the <strong>Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission</strong> (IOC) of UNESCO, as part of the <strong>UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development</strong>.</p><p>The school ran over three days, with the OPS over two days.  We searched for a platform that would accommodate the flexibility needed for the OPS; we chose Discord.  We had participants originating from Brazil, France, India, Italy, Iran, Spain, Tunisia and the UK; ages ranged from 19 to 60 years.  It was a great success.  A detailed, online feedback form two weeks after the event collected participants’ opinions, including:</p><ul><li><em>“It was a wonderful experience.”, :I felt very good with all the participants.”, “When I describe the experience to friends I always say that it was something really useful for my personal and professional growth.”, “It was a very enriching experience for me to meet all these people with different training and knowledge, coming from different countries.”, “Enriching moments, so much more to discover.”, “What a great experience! I felt happy, engaged and surrounded by beautiful minds.”</em></li> </ul><p>We will run the event again in the Spring and the late summer or autumn, with different geoscience themes.  The success of the October 2020 event raises several research questions, including:</p><ul><li>How do the online and the in-person versions compare?</li> <li>What are the advantages and drawbacks of each?</li> <li>Which is more effective for what objectives and what results?</li> <li>How do the two versions stack up in regard to conducting research on such events?</li> <li>What are the implications of OPS for geoliteracy?</li> </ul><p>Our presentation will describe the event in more detail, offer tentative answers to the above questions, and help you decide if you wish to participate in the next event.  Co-authors include both organizers and participants.</p>

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

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.

Large-scale drivers of the Mediterranean climate change hot-spot

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roman Brogli ◽  
Silje Lund Sørland ◽  
Nico Kröner ◽  
Christoph Schär
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Hot Spot ◽  
Regional Climate ◽  
Lapse Rate ◽  
Summer Climate ◽  
Climate Simulations ◽  
Summer Warming ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
Circulation Changes

<div> <p><span>It has long been recognized that the Mediterranean is a ‘hot-spot’ of climate change. The model-projected year-round precipitation decline and amplified summer warming are among the leading causes of the vulnerability of the Mediterranean to greenhouse gas-driven warming. We investigate large-scale drivers influencing both the Mediterranean drying and summer warming in regional climate simulations. To isolate the influence of multiple large-scale drivers, we sequentially add the respective drivers from global models to regional climate model simulations. Additionally, we confirm the robustness of our results across multiple ensembles of global and regional climate simulations.</span></p> </div><div> <p><span>We will present in detail how changes in the atmospheric stratification are key in causing the amplified Mediterranean summer warming. Together with the land-ocean warming contrast, stratification changes also drive the summer precipitation decline. Summer circulation changes generally have a surprisingly small influence on the changing Mediterranean summer climate. In contrast, changes in the circulation are the primary driver for the projected winter precipitation decline. Since land-ocean contrast and stratification changes are more robust in global climate simulations than circulation changes, we argue that the uncertainty associated with the projected climate change patterns should be considered smaller in summer than in winter.</span></p> </div><div> <p><span>References:</span></p> </div><div> <p><span>Brogli, R., S. L. Sørland, N. Kröner, and C. Schär, 2019: Causes of future Mediterranean precipitation decline depend on the season. Environmental Research Letters, 14, 114017, doi:10.1088/1748-9326/ab4438.</span></p> </div><div> <p><span>Brogli, R., N. Kröner, S. L. Sørland, D. Lüthi and C. Schär, 2019: The Role of Hadley Circulation and Lapse-Rate Changes for the Future European Summer Climate. Journal of Climate, 32, 385-404, doi:10.1175/JCLI-D-18-0431.1</span></p> </div>

scholarly journals The Mediterranean Sea system: a review and an introduction to the special issue

Ocean Science ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 789-803 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Tanhua ◽  
D. Hainbucher ◽  
K. Schroeder ◽  
V. Cardin ◽  
M. Álvarez ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mediterranean Sea ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Chemical Properties ◽  
Short Review ◽  
Background Information ◽  
Nutrient Concentrations ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Ocean Science ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
Biogeochemical Parameters

Abstract. The Mediterranean Sea is a semi-enclosed sea characterized by high salinities, temperatures and densities. The net evaporation exceeds the precipitation, driving an anti-estuarine circulation through the Strait of Gibraltar, contributing to very low nutrient concentrations. The Mediterranean Sea has an active overturning circulation, one shallow cell that communicates directly with the Atlantic Ocean, and two deep overturning cells, one in each of the two main basins. It is surrounded by populated areas and is thus sensitive to anthropogenic forcing. Several dramatic changes in the oceanographic and biogeochemical conditions have been observed during the past several decades, emphasizing the need to better monitor and understand the changing conditions and their drivers. During 2011 three oceanographic cruises were conducted in a coordinated fashion in order to produce baseline data of important physical and biogeochemical parameters that can be compared to historic data and be used as reference for future observational campaigns. In this article we provide information on the Mediterranean Sea oceanographic situation, and present a short review that will serve as background information for the special issue in Ocean Science on "Physical, chemical and biological oceanography of the Mediterranean Sea". An important contribution of this article is the set of figures showing the large-scale distributions of physical and chemical properties along the full length of the Mediterranean Sea.

A sub-regional approach for the analysis of atmospheric teleconnection influence on precipitation in Calabria (southern Italy)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giulio Nils Caroletti ◽  
Roberto Coscarelli ◽  
Tommaso Caloiero
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Monthly Precipitation ◽  
The South ◽  
The North ◽  
Eastern Zone ◽  
Teleconnection Indices ◽  
Western Zone ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
Mediterranean Oscillation

<p>Due to the importance of precipitation as a climatic and meteorological variable, it is paramount to detect the relationships between teleconnections and precipitation at different temporal and spatial scale. In fact, large-scale systems can i) influence precipitation directly, ii) establish a favourable environment to deep moist convection, and thus extreme precipitation, but also iii) help triggering dry conditions and drought.</p><p>In this study, developed within the INDECIS EU project, the teleconnection influence on precipitation in the Calabria region has been evaluated over the 1981-2010 time period, by means of a database of 79 rain gauge stations and seven teleconnections indices. Calabria, the southernmost region of peninsular Italy, was chosen as a valuable test bed mainly because it is located in the centre of the Mediterranean region, which constitutes a hot spot for climate change. Moreover, Calabria has a high-density, long-time network of precipitation gauges, recently validated and homogenized.</p><p>Statistical relationships between teleconnection indices and precipitation are often developed through well-known correlation analyses techniques, e.g. Pearson, Spearman and Kendall, where a teleconnection index is compared to cumulated precipitation values. In this study, three types of correlation analysis were performed: i) seasonal indices vs seasonal cumulated precipitation; ii) three-month indices vs monthly cumulated precipitation; iii) monthly indices vs monthly cumulated precipitation. These analyses have been performed in five Rainfall Zones (RZs) of the study area, characterised by different climatic conditions: the North-Eastern Zone (I1), the Central-Eastern Zone (I2) and the South-Eastern Zone (I3) on the Ionian side of Calabria and the North-Western Zone (T1) and the South-Western Zone (T2) on the Tyrrhenian part.</p><p>Results showed that the Mediterranean Oscillation and the North Atlantic Oscillation are the most important large-scale contributors to the precipitation regime of Calabria. Moreover, seasonal Eastern Atlantic pattern influenced seasonal precipitation in the RZs I1 and T1; three-monthly East Atlantic/Western Russian pattern influenced monthly precipitation in the RZs I2 and T1; three-monthly Western Mediterranean Oscillation influenced monthly precipitation in the RZs I3 and T1; while three-monthly El Nino-Southern Oscillation influenced monthly precipitation in the RZ T2.</p><p>Investigating changes in the response of local precipitation and teleconnections throughout the 1951-2010 and 1951-1980 time periods, a change in precipitation response to teleconnection patterns emerged, i.e., in the impact that the Mediterranean Oscillation has on the East coast precipitation (RZs I1-I3), a possible result of natural variation or climate change. In addition, these results have been compared to those obtained with the classical correlation analyses between teleconnection indices and single-station precipitation.</p><p>The approach developed for this study is a general method that, in principle, can be reproduced for any variable for any region and for every teleconnection.</p><p>Acknowledgments:</p><p>The Project INDECIS is part of ERA4CS, an ERA-NET initiated by JPI Climate, and funded by FORMAS (SE), DLR (DE), BMWFW (AT), IFD (DK), MINECO (ES), ANR (FR) with co-funding by the European Union (Grant 690462).</p>

scholarly journals Causes of future Mediterranean precipitation decline depend on the season

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roman Brogli ◽  
Silje Lund Sørland ◽  
Nico Kröner ◽  
Christoph Schär
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Regional Climate ◽  
Lapse Rate ◽  
Environmental Research ◽  
Economic Sectors ◽  
Climate Simulations ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
Circulation Changes

<p>The Mediterranean is among the global 'hot-spots' of climate change, where severe consequences of climate change are expected. Changes in the atmospheric water cycle are among the leading causes of the vulnerability of the Mediterranean to greenhouse gas-driven warming. Specifically, precipitation is projected to decrease year-round, which is expected to have major impacts on hydrology, biodiversity, agriculture, hydropower, and further economic sectors that rely on sufficient water supply.</p><p>We investigate possible causes of the Mediterranean drying in regional climate simulations. To isolate the influence of multiple large-scale drivers on the drying, we sequentially add the respective drivers from global models to regional climate model simulations. We show that the causes of the Mediterranean drying depend on the season. We will present in detail how the summer drying is driven by the land-ocean warming contrast, lapse-rate and other thermodynamic changes, while it only weakly depends on circulation changes. In contrast, changes in the circulation are the primary driver for the projected winter precipitation decline. Since land-ocean contrast, thermodynamic and lapse-rate changes are more robust in climate simulations than circulation changes, the uncertainty associated with the projected drying should be considered smaller in summer than in winter.</p><p>Reference: Brogli, R., S. L. Sørland, N. Kröner, and C. Schär, 2019: Causes of future Mediterranean precipitation decline depend on the season. Environmental Research Letters, 14, 114017, doi:10.1088/1748-9326/ab4438.</p>

scholarly journals Balancing Waste and Nutrient Flows Between Urban Agglomerations and Rural Ecosystems: Biochar for Improving Crop Growth and Urban Air Quality in The Mediterranean Region

Atmosphere ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 539
Author(s):  
Anastasia Zabaniotou ◽  
Katerina Stamou
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Carbon Dioxide ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Carbon Dioxide Emissions ◽  
Mediterranean Region ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Field Experiments ◽  
Urban Agglomerations ◽  
The Mediterranean

Mediterranean ecosystems are threatened by water and nutrient scarcity and continuous loss of soil organic carbon. Urban agglomerations and rural ecosystems in the Mediterranean region and globally are interlinked through the flows of resources/nutrients and wastes. Contributing to balancing these cycles, the present study advocates standardized biochar as a soil amendment, produced from Mediterranean suitable biowaste, for closing the nutrient loop in agriculture, with parallel greenhouse gas reduction, enhancing air quality in urban agglomerations, mitigating climate change. The study’s scope is the contextualization of pyrolytic conditions and biowaste type effects on the yield and properties of biochar and to shed light on biochar’s role in soil fertility and climate change mitigation. Mediterranean-type suitable feedstocks (biowaste) to produce biochar, in accordance with biomass feedstocks approved for use in producing biochar by the European Biochar Certificate, are screened. Data form large-scale and long-period field experiments are considered. The findings advocate the following: (a) pyrolytic biochar application in soils contributes to the retention of important nutrients for agricultural production, thereby reducing the use of fertilizers; (b) pyrolysis does not release carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, contributing positively to the balance of carbon dioxide emissions to the atmosphere, with carbon uptake by plant photosynthesis; (c) biochar stores carbon in soils, counterbalancing the effect of climate change by sequestering carbon; (d) there is an imperative need to identify the suitable feedstock for the production of sustainable and safe biochar from a range of biowaste, according to the European Biochar Certificate, for safe crop production.

scholarly journals Why Is the Mediterranean a Climate Change Hot Spot?

2020 ◽  
Vol 33 (14) ◽  
pp. 5829-5843 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Tuel ◽  
E. A. B. Eltahir
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Hot Spot ◽  
Winter Precipitation ◽  
Sea Temperature ◽  
Circulation Change ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
The Stability ◽  
Regional Land ◽  
Circulation Changes

AbstractHigher precipitation is expected over most of the world’s continents under climate change, except for a few specific regions where models project robust declines. Among these, the Mediterranean stands out as a result of the magnitude and significance of its winter precipitation decline. Locally, up to 40% of winter precipitation could be lost, setting strong limits on water resources that will constrain the ability of the region to develop and grow food, affecting millions of already water-stressed people and threatening the stability of this tense and complex area. To this day, however, a theory explaining the special nature of this region as a climate change hot spot is still lacking. Regional circulation changes, dominated by the development of a strong anomalous ridge, are thought to drive the winter precipitation decline, but their origins and potential contributions to regional hydroclimate change remain elusive. Here, we show how wintertime Mediterranean circulation trends can be seen as the combined response to two independent forcings: robust changes in large-scale, upper-tropospheric flow and the reduction in the regional land–sea temperature gradient that is characteristic of this region. In addition, we discuss how the circulation change can account for the magnitude and spatial structure of the drying. Our findings pave the way for better understanding and improved modeling of the future Mediterranean hydroclimate.

scholarly journals The Mediterranean Sea system: a review and an introduction to the special issue

2013 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 581-617 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Tanhua ◽  
D. Hainbucher ◽  
K. Schröder ◽  
V. Cardin ◽  
M. Álvarez ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mediterranean Sea ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Chemical Properties ◽  
Short Review ◽  
Background Information ◽  
Nutrient Concentrations ◽  
Base Line ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Ocean Science ◽  
The Mediterranean

Abstract. The Mediterranean is a semi-enclosed sea characterized by high salinities, temperatures and densities. The net evaporation exceeds the precipitation, driving an anti-estuarine circulation through the Strait of Gibraltar, contributing to very low nutrient concentrations. The Mediterranean Sea has an active overturning circulation, one shallow cell that communicates directly with the Atlantic Ocean, and two deep overturning cells, one in each of the two main basins. It is surrounded by populated areas and is thus sensitive to anthropogenic forcing. Several dramatic changes in the oceanographic and biogeochemical conditions have been observed during the past several decades, emphasising the need to better monitor and understand the changing conditions and their drivers. During 2011 three oceanographic cruises were conducted in a coordinated fashion in order to produce base-line data of important physical and biogeochemical parameters that can be compared to historic data and be used as reference for future observational campaigns. In this article we provide information on the Mediterranean Sea oceanographic situation, and present a short review that will serve as background information for the special issue in Ocean Science on "Physical, chemical and biological oceanography of the Mediterranean Sea". An important contribution of this article is the set of figures showing the large-scale distributions of physical and chemical properties along the full length of the Mediterranean Sea.

Alexandria, Kom el-Dikka. Fieldwork in the 2019 season

2020 ◽  
pp. 469-496
Author(s):  
Grzegorz Majcherek
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Direct Evidence ◽  
Geometric Design ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
Construction Work ◽  
Floor Tiles ◽  
Stone Material ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
Late Roman

The report offers an account of archaeological and conservation work carried out at the site. Excavations in the central part of the site (Sector F) were continued for the fourth season in a row. Exploration of remains of early Roman houses led to the discovery of a well preserved multicolored triclinium mosaic floor with a floral and geometric design. A large assemblage of fragments of polychrome marble floor tiles, recorded in the house collapse, showed the scale of importation of decorative stone material from various regions of the Mediterranean. Overlying the early Roman strata was direct evidence of intensive construction work carried out in the vicinity in the form of large-scale kilnworks, supplying lime most probably for the building of the late Roman bath and cistern. Included in the presentation is a brief review of the limited conservation work that was conducted in the complex of late antique auditoria.

The Biology of Mediterranean-Type Ecosystems

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen J. Esler ◽  
Anna L. Jacobsen ◽  
R. Brandon Pratt
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
South Africa ◽  
Invasive Species ◽  
Habitat Loss ◽  
Endemic Species ◽  
Geographic Area ◽  
Cutting Edge ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
Mediterranean Type Ecosystems

The world’s mediterranean-type climate regions (including areas within the Mediterranean, South Africa, Australia, California, and Chile) have long been of interest to biologists by virtue of their extraordinary biodiversity and the appearance of evolutionary convergence between these disparate regions. Comparisons between mediterranean-type climate regions have provided important insights into questions at the cutting edge of ecological, ecophysiological and evolutionary research. These regions, dominated by evergreen shrubland communities, contain many rare and endemic species. Their mild climate makes them appealing places to live and visit and this has resulted in numerous threats to the species and communities that occupy them. Threats include a wide range of factors such as habitat loss due to development and agriculture, disturbance, invasive species, and climate change. As a result, they continue to attract far more attention than their limited geographic area might suggest. This book provides a concise but comprehensive introduction to mediterranean-type ecosystems. As with other books in the Biology of Habitats Series, the emphasis in this book is on the organisms that dominate these regions although their management, conservation, and restoration are also considered.

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