Nonlinear Processes in Geosciences

NP Interview: Federico Grazzini on Climate Change casts shadows on the present and the future of the Mediterranean Basin

Davide Faranda November 17, 2022

Monthly mean sea surface temperature averaged over western and central Mediterranean sea [0E - 22E], months April - November. The blue line corresponds to the recent climatology 1991-2020 with the shading respectively showing 1,2,3 standard deviations of the monthly averages from the mean. Symbols are showing this year values and, for comparison with a previous strongest marine heat wave, the values recorded in 2003.

Weather extreme events in the year 2022 are really hitting the Mediterranean basin very hard. Since the beginning of the year we are observing a widespread drought, heatwaves but also severe thunderstorms. Few days before the COP meeting in Sharm-el-sheik we discussed one of the experts of Mediterranean climate, Federico Grazzini, to unveil whether these events can be linked to climate change. Fe ...[Read More]

What the 2022 summer thunderstorms in the Mediterranean tell us about the ongoing climate change?

Davide Faranda September 7, 2022

Lightning trace from 00 UTC to 18 UTC on 18 July 2022 showing the derecho track (dark red to white). Source: https://www.blitzortung.org/it/live_lightning_maps.php

The 2022 European summer was governed by the presence of a persistent cold drop (low pressure area) located between Portugal and France. The change in its position has determined the alternation between hot conditions (low pressure center over Portugal) and stormy conditions (cold drop over France). The warming of the Mediterranean Sea (up to +6°C compared to the period 1990-2020) has largely cont ...[Read More]

NP Interviews: Davide Faranda (CNRS) on the topic “global warming and extreme events in Europe”

Tommaso Alberti and Davide Faranda August 30, 2022

Davide Faranda is a physicist at the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS). His main interests are devoted to the construction of a statistical mechanical and dynamical systems framework for the study of atmospheric motions. In particular, his works aim at the characterization of the metastable states of the atmospheric circulation with simple mathematical and statistical tools, an ...[Read More]

A few reasons making the June 2022 French Heatwave too hot & too soon

Davide Faranda June 17, 2022

Picture (by Chris Walts): original way to stay cool during hot days in Paris.

Too hot, Too soon: the thermometer has reached unprecedented temperature for a month of June in France, with the 40°C mark crossed by Friday June 17 in part of France. The IPCC AR6 report now clearly states that the probability of heatwave events such as this one has increased by a factor 3 to 5 in the present climate with respect to a counterfactual world not affected by anthropogenic greenhouse ...[Read More]