Identification

Title

Characterization of the mean and extreme Mediterranean cyclones and their variability during the period 1500â€‰BCE to 1850â€‰CE

Abstract

Extratropical cyclones are important meteorological phenomena in the Mediterranean and are essential for local water supplies, yet they also pose significant hazards for the region as a result of extreme precipitation or wind events. Although they have been extensively studied using global and regional climate models, their spatial and temporal variability in the Late Holocene is poorly understood. Here, we study a 3350-year climatological simulation that allows us to characterize Mediterranean cyclones better and provides a baseline for more accurately assessing the long-term effects of future climate change on Mediterranean cyclones. To analyse Mediterranean cyclone characteristics, we use a seamless transient simulation from 1500â€‰BCE to 1850â€‰CE produced by the Community Earth System Model (CESM) with a 6-hourly temporal and 1.9Â°Ã—2.5Â° horizontal resolutions. We found that Mediterranean cyclones exhibit pronounced multi-decadal variability in the order of 5â€‰% throughout the entire Late Holocene with respect to several cyclone-related properties. For the cyclone frequency, a weak statistical relationship is identified with the East Atlantic (EA), East Atlantic/Western Russia (EAWR), and Scandinavian (SCAN) modes of circulation. Composite analyses of the most extreme cyclones with respect to wind speed and precipitation indicate that cyclones in the central Mediterranean have the potential to grow more intense over their entire lifetime than cyclones in the eastern Mediterranean. This is especially true for extreme wind speed cyclones, implying that people in the central Mediterranean are potentially more exposed to hazards caused by extreme cyclones.

Resource type

document

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

https://n2t.net/ark:/85065/d7k36032

codeSpace

Dataset language

eng

Spatial reference system

code identifying the spatial reference system

Classification of spatial data and services

Topic category

geoscientificInformation

Keywords

Keyword set

keyword value

Text

originating controlled vocabulary

title

Resource Type

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2016-01-01T00:00:00Z

Geographic location

West bounding longitude

East bounding longitude

North bounding latitude

South bounding latitude

Temporal reference

Temporal extent

Begin position

End position

Dataset reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2025-07-21T00:00:00Z

Frequency of update

Quality and validity

Lineage

Conformity

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name of format

version of format

Constraints related to access and use

Constraint set

Use constraints

<span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:10pt;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal;" data-sheets-root="1">Copyright author(s). This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.</span>

Limitations on public access

None

Responsible organisations

Responsible party

contact position

OpenSky Support

organisation name

UCAR/NCAR - Library

full postal address

PO Box 3000

Boulder

80307-3000

email address

opensky@ucar.edu

web address

http://opensky.ucar.edu/

name: homepage

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata on metadata

Metadata point of contact