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Past and Current Climate Changes in the Mediterranean Region

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Regional Assessment of Climate Change in the Mediterranean

Part of the book series: Advances in Global Change Research ((AGLO,volume 50))

Abstract

Mediterranean climate change during the last 60 years is based on homogenized daily temperature and quality controlled precipitation observational data and gridded products. The estimated changes indicate statistically significant Mediterranean summer temperature increase and a reduction in winter precipitation in specific areas. Reconstructions of Mediterranean sea level suggest a rise of some 150 mm since the beginning of the nineteenth century. A 20 years long reanalysis (1985–2007) was produced, showing long term temperature variability and a positive salinity trend in the ocean layers from the surface to 1,500 m depth. A prominent increase in summer temperature extremes is found in the whole Mediterranean region, while warm bias in the mid twentieth century station data is removed by homogenization. No basin-wide trends in precipitation and droughts are found for the second half of the twentieth century, while trends in extreme winds are largely negative, as are those of the related cyclones and cut-off-lows. The role of large scale pressure patterns like the NAO for variabilities and trends is discussed for the different parameters considered.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut für Meteorologie, Freie Universität (FU) Berlin, Berlin, Germany

    Uwe Ulbrich & Katrin M. Nissen

  2. Department of Geography, Climatology, Climate Dynamics and Climate Change, Justus-Liebig University of Giessen, Giessen, Germany

    Elena Xoplaki, Jürg Luterbacher & Andrea Toreti

  3. Institute of Geography, Climatology and Meteorology and Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland

    Elena Xoplaki, Franz G. Kuglitsch & Andrea Toreti

  4. Centro Euro-Mediterraneo per i Cambiamenti Climatici, Via Aldo Moro 44, 40127, Bologna, Italy

    Srdjan Dobricic

  5. Universidad Complutense de Madrid/ IGEO (UCM-CISC), Madrid, Spain

    Ricardo García-Herrera

  6. Department of Material Science, University of Salento, Lecce, Italy

    Piero Lionello, Maria Barbara Galati & Cosimo Pino

  7. Centro Euro Mediterraneo sui Cambiamenti Climatici CMCC, Bologna, Italy

    Piero Lionello

  8. Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, INGV, Bologna, Italy

    Mario Adani, David Barriopedro & Nadia Pinardi

  9. Institute of Biometeorology, National Research Council, (CNR–IBIMET), Rome, Italy

    Marina Baldi, Paolo Coccimiglio, Giovanni Dalu & Marco Gaetani

  10. Climatic Research Unit, School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia UEA, Norwich, UK

    Dimitrios Efthymiadis, Clare M. Goodess & Phil D. Jones

  11. Centre for Climate Change, Geography Department, University Rovira i Virgili (URV), Tortosa, Spain

    Dimitrios Efthymiadis

  12. EPhysLab, University of Vigo, Ourense, Spain

    Luis Gimeno, Raquel Nieto & Daniele Pettenuzzo

  13. IUGG Secretariat, GFZ-Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany

    Franz G. Kuglitsch

  14. School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, UK

    Gregor C. Leckebusch

  15. Ecología y Recursos Marinos, Mediterranean Institute for Advanced Studies, IMEDEA (CSIC-UIB), Mallorca, Spain

    Marta Marcos-Moreno

  16. Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development (ENEA), Rome, Italy

    Annarita Mariotti

  17. Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center, University of Maryland, College Park, USA

    Annarita Mariotti

  18. James Rennell Division for Ocean Circulation, National Oceanography Centre, Southampton Empress Dock, Hants, SO14 3ZH, Southampton, UK

    Andrew G. P. Shaw

  19. University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal

    Pedro Sousa

  20. Instituto Dom Luiz, University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal

    Ricardo M. Trigo

  21. National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, UK

    Mikis Tsimplis

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  1. Uwe Ulbrich
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  31. Mikis Tsimplis
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Uwe Ulbrich .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Climate Change (CMCC), Euro-Mediterranean Center on, via Augusto Imperatore 16, Lecce, 73100, Italy

    Antonio Navarra

  2. IDDRI SciencesPo, rue du Four 41, Paris, 75006, France

    Laurence Tubiana

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Ulbrich, U. et al. (2013). Past and Current Climate Changes in the Mediterranean Region. In: Navarra, A., Tubiana, L. (eds) Regional Assessment of Climate Change in the Mediterranean. Advances in Global Change Research, vol 50. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-5781-3_2

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