The climate of the Mediterranean region at multiple time and spatial scales

Submission deadline: Monday, 31 July 2023

The Mediterranean region is often characterized as a climate change hotspot, Because of this, it has been the object of the AR6-WG2 cross chapter paper 4 and is a well-defined world region frequently mentioned also in other parts of the recent IPCC AR6 (in AR6-WG1, WG2-Chapter 13 Europe and WG2-Chapter 9 Africa). Climate change will expose the Mediterranean to the impacts of several climate hazards: decrease of precipitation, increased on droughts frequency and intensity, intense warming, and heat waves (both in the terrestrial and marine environment), increase of precipitation extremes in some areas, sea level rise and potential flooding of coastal areas. Climate change has already been documented and attributed in the Mediterranean region. Impacts have already been observed and are expected to greatly increase in the future in the absence of successful mitigation efforts. The consequence will be risks for human health, agricultural production, water resources, floodings and both marine and terrestrial ecosystems. This collection aims at an extensive and comprehensive review of the state of the art concerning Mediterranean climate research, to describe the basis for future efforts and the gaps to be filled. The regional focus is itself relevant in terms of the involved processes, the size of the exposed population, and the uniqueness of the endangered ecosystems. Moreover, changes in the Mediterranean are potentially relevant for other areas located downstream of the Mediterranean and their impacts on the salinity of the north Atlantic (with potential impacts on the global thermohaline circulation). Finally, one article will consider also Mediterranean climate types in other regions of the world (Australia, South Africa, America).

Topics for this call for papers include but not restricted to:

• Processes relevant for the evolution of the Mediterranean climate

• Climate predictions from sub–seasonal–to–decadal timescales in the Mediterranean region

• Paleo-climate of the Mediterranean at multiple time scales

• Mediterranean-type climates

• Detection and attribution in the Mediterranean region

• Climate policy impact on food production in the Mediterranean region

• Mediterranean cities and their microclimate

Piero Lionello

University of Salento, Italy

Uwe Ulbrich

Freie Universität Berlin

Germany

Ricardo García-Herrera

Complutense University of Madrid

Spain