Working Group 3 research activities will focus on the impacts of Mediterranean cyclones on regional climate with socio-economic implications.
Research areas of high priority include (but are not limited to):
(a) study of dust mobilization, transport and properties from North Africa towards Europe associated with cyclonic activity;
(b) troposphere-stratosphere interactions, especially through the convective overshooting associated with Mediterranean cyclones;
(c) the role of cyclones on the Mediterranean Sea circulation and deep water formation;
(d) the impact of cyclones on the regional water cycle and transport of water into and out of the Mediterranean and
(e) past, present and future socio-economic impacts.
Especially processes (a) and (b) are of high importance for global climate, as they have been identified as major sources of uncertainties in future climate projections.
Furthermore, WG3 initiatives will aim at coordinating the interaction between researchers, forecasters and stakeholders in order to co-design in detail and refine cyclone-related products of weather/climate prediction centres, as well as address the needs of general public and stakeholders (e.g. civil protection agencies and re-insurance companies) on tools and methods towards higher quality of common knowledge about high-impact weather and climate extremes.
For more information and on how to contribute, please contact Jonilda kushta at j.kushta[at]cyi.ac.cy and/or Samira Khodayar Pardo at Samira.Khodayar[at]uv.es
2. ImCyCoast
This initiative aims at investigating the response of coastal sea level (storm surge) and sea state (waves) to Mediterranean cyclones. Special effort will be dedicated to understand the sensitivity of the ocean (models) to the meteorological forcing, using model ensembles. This approach will allow us to evaluate the uncertainty associated with the cyclones impacting the coast.
The initiative will benefit from the meteorological model simulations performed within the framework of the WG1 Model Intercomparison initiative. Therefore, as a first step, Medicane Ianos will be considered as a case study, but other events will be considered later (e.g., Medicane Zorbas). We are planning to perform several numerical experiments using coupled and uncoupled hydrodynamic and wave models.
For more information and on how to contribute, please contact Christian Ferrarin at c.ferrarin[at]ismar.cnr.im
