Persistent atmospheric circulation patterns are not a necessary requirement for warm temperature extremes in Europe. This key finding from a recent study led by Emma Holmberg challenges a more traditional meteorological view of persistence, which typically considers summertime heatwaves, especially in northern regions of Europe, to be synonymous with persistent atmospheric flow patterns. Furthermore, wintertime …[Read More]
climate extremes
NPG Paper of the Month: “A Range of Outcomes: The Combined Effects of Internal Variability and Anthropogenic Forcing on Regional Climate Trends over Europe”
The NPG paper of the month for February 2023 was awarded to “A Range of Outcomes: The Combined Effects of Internal Variability and Anthropogenic Forcing on Regional Climate Trends over Europe” by Clara Deser and Adam S. Phillips. How much will Europe warm in the next 50 years? Will precipitation increase or decrease? Are past …[Read More]
Socio-economic and security implications of global heating
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 …[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
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 …[Read More]
ECS SpotLight: Climate change on extreme winds already affects off-shore wind energy availability in Europe
Off-shore wind energy plays a key role in the transition to a renewable energy (RE) system, and its usage is expected to increase in the next few decades. Nevertheless, wind energy is one of the most variable and weather-dependent RE, because of its natural dependence on the wind speed, which can vary at different time …[Read More]
Sea level rise: a global threat in a warming planet
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 …[Read More]
Climate Tipping Points through the “eyes” of the Masters: a virtual art exhibition
We are running out of time in fighting the effects of climate change. With the greenhouse gasses emissions steady, the planet is reaching warming levels that could cause some large ecosystems to tip in different states. A tipping point in the climate system refers to a threshold beyond which a small change in a particular …[Read More]