A seasonal weather perspective on forest vitality, vapor pressure deficit, and Greenland melt in a warming climate ...

• Main Author: Hermann, Mauro
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: ETH Zurich 2023
• Subjects: Seasonal variability; atmospheric dynamics; forest greenness; vapor pressure deficit VPD; Greenland Ice Sheet; infoeu-repo/classification/ddc/550; Earth sciences; Greenland; Ice Sheet
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000638327; http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11850/638327

A wide range of meteorological and climatological phenomena shape atmospheric variability on different timescales. For example, convection in thunderstorms leads to intense precipitation within minutes, while stationary anticyclones often cause multi-day heat waves. In contrast, only few atmospheric phenomena operate on the seasonal timescale, where climate variability has a very strong impact on many natural and socioeconomic systems. Moreover, seasonal climate variability is relatively more affected by global warming than shorter-term variability, making these systems particularly vulnerable to ongoing global warming. Therefore, the aim of this thesis is to improve our understanding of seasonal climate variability, which is crucial for the development of timely adaptation and preparedness strategies. To achieve this goal, our approach adopts a “weather perspective”, i.e., we investigate how shorter-term atmospheric variability aggregates to form seasonal anomalies and extremes. We also focus on three ...