NP
Nonlinear Processes in Geosciences

Global Warming

Socio-economic and security implications of global heating

May 15, 2023
Socio-economic and security implications of global heating
Temperature anomaly for July 2022 with respect to reference period 1959-1989. Data: 2m temperatures from ERA5.

This year, like in the last few years, we are experiencing the effects of global heating in increasingly personal ways. The summer of 2022 exposed us to ever more extreme heat waves in North America, Europe, and Asia. For instance, the heat wave in India and Pakistan reached temperatures of 49C in Nawabshah, Pakistan. North America too experienced devastating heat waves and wildfires. Los Angeles ...[Read More]

ECS SpotLight: Changes in the climate dynamics have already modified characteristics and impacts of storms in France: the case study of storm Alex 2020

April 6, 2023
ECS SpotLight: Changes in the climate dynamics have already modified characteristics and impacts of storms in France: the case study of storm Alex 2020
Credit: https://openai.com/product/dall-e-2

Extratropical cyclones play a key role in modulating the precipitation and wind in mid-latitudes and can be responsible for extreme wet and windy events. With global warming, the dynamics and thermodynamics associated with these atmospheric systems are being affected. However, due to the complexity of modelling the climate system, a challenge arises when evaluating the influence that climate chang ...[Read More]

El Niño is back: What it Means for Global Warming?

March 16, 2023
El Niño is back: What it Means for Global Warming?
El Niño vs la Niña schematic representation of wind anomalies (arrows) and ocean temperature anomalies (colors). source: https://thecolumn.ahacentre.org/insight/vol-66-getting-to-know-el-nino-la-nina/

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has just announced that the La Niña episode has officially ended, and from autumn onwards, it should give way to an El Niño phase. But what does that mean? And what is the influence of these weather phenomena on global warming?For those who have never heard of La Niña before, here’s an explanation of this phenomenon. The Earth rotates, so there are ...[Read More]

Sea level rise: a global threat in a warming planet

and February 28, 2023
Sea level rise: a global threat in a warming planet
Credit: Marco Anzidei

Over 70% of the Earth’s surface is covered by seas and oceans but in the geological past the extension of sea and land has varied several times as sea level changed over time. During the past millions of years, the oceans have cyclically retreated and expanded with the alternating of warmer and colder climatic periods in consequence of the astronomical motions of the Earth, repeatedly changi ...[Read More]