CLIMSEAS

"Climate Change and Inland Seas: Phenomena, Feedback and Uncertainties. The Physical Science Basis."

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 Obiettivo del progetto (Objective)

'The overall aim of this proposal is to create an international network of scientists working on climate change in inland sea areas, which are sensitive environments capable of providing key information about global climate change. Although inland seas and large lakes are very vulnerable to anthropogenic and climatic stressors and require special attention, there is not a single, easily identifiable research centre in Europe dedicated to them, although many are working on it. Because the University of Girona (UdG), the Shirshov Institute of Oceanology (SIO) and the Russian Hydrometeorological Centre (RHMC) had already developed a collaborative relationship during a NATO study project on the Aral Sea, the IRSES scheme appeared to be a good context within which to strengthen the relationship of the UdG with the SIO and the RHMC – two regional leaders in their respective fields – and to study of inland seas in Central Eurasia, one of the most active regions for climate change according to the projection of surface temperatures for all four IPCC scenarios. However, there is still a need for research on historical data that collaboration with paleoclimatologists/limnologists from the Universities of Brunel and Liverpool could provide. The Arizona State University, which has had a relationship with the UdG since 1992 is joining with its own funds and offering its experience and laboratories to better develop the project, which focuses on the Physical Science Basis of Climate Change. Given the opportunities presented by these collaborations and the aims of the IRSES, activities such as seminars or research work analysing either existing or new data related to the sea, the vegetation and the atmospheric components of the climate system, and their interrelation are organised within this proposal. The proposal brings together experimental and numerical communities, which have been identified as important and is included in the FP7 (ENV.2009.1.1.4.1).'

Introduzione (Teaser)

Although inland seas and large lakes are vulnerable to climate change and human activities there is currently no dedicated research centre in Europe. An EU-funded interdisciplinary initiative is addressing this situation.

Descrizione progetto (Article)

The aim of the 'Climate Change and Inland Seas: Phenomena, Feedback and Uncertainties. The Physical Science Basis' (http://www.udg.edu/climseas (CLIMSEAS)) project is to establish an international network for exchanging expertise concerning climate change in regions with inland bodies of water. Research partners come from the EU, Russia and the United States.

CLIMSEAS will provide an assessment of climate change effects on inland waters particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change and human activities. It will also indentify the most important feedback processes controlling the physical state of inland seas, focusing on the Aral, Black and Caspian Seas.

Aral Sea studies demonstrated the importance of taking into account geophysical, atmospheric and hydrological processes for short-term predictions.

The Black Sea, over much of the last decade, has experienced changes in sea surface temperature in the opposite direction to those of the world's oceans and in significant correlation with the NAO. The mean temperature of the cold intermediate layer reflects specific climatic events.

The shelf dynamics of the Black and Mediterranean seas were also studied. The different evolution of three shallow water lagoons connected to the Baltic Sea and subject to intense human pressure has been discussed. Results showed that variability in annual water temperature and sea level, as well as their extreme values have increased since the 1980s.

The water balance for the Caspian Sea was calculated for 1993 to 2010 and its response to the drought of July 2010 was studied in detail. The obtained results may turn out to be an essential contribution to the mitigation of societal impacts of the sea level.

Most typical situations associated with the formation of blocking anticyclones in the Atlantic-European sector are heat dipoles and cold temperature anomalies in the lower troposphere. The H500 and T850 fields contain prognostic information.

After two years of implementation, the CLIMSEAS project is therefore on course to developing a network of international scientists and science institutes to study how climate change affects inland seas. These sensitive environments will help to provide crucial information regarding global climate change.