Recent and future drying of the Mediterranean region: anthropogenic forcing, natural variability and social impacts ...
The Mediterranean region has experienced persistent drying since the middle of the 20th Century and global climate models project further drying in the future as a consequence of increasing greenhouse gases. The Mediterranean region is also known to oscillate between decades of relatively wet and dr...
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Columbia University
2014
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| Online Access: | https://dx.doi.org/10.7916/d8cr5rfv https://academiccommons.columbia.edu/doi/10.7916/D8CR5RFV |
| Summary: | The Mediterranean region has experienced persistent drying since the middle of the 20th Century and global climate models project further drying in the future as a consequence of increasing greenhouse gases. The Mediterranean region is also known to oscillate between decades of relatively wet and dry conditions due to the strong influence of multidecadal North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). It is therefore of great importance to understand the relationship between forced long-term drying resulting from human influences and those due to natural variability. To this end, we used observations, reanalyses and comprehensive global climate models in this thesis research. The roles of anthropogenic climate change and internal climate variability in causing the Mediterranean region's late 20th Century extended winter drying trend were examined using 20th Century observations as well as 19 coupled climate models from the CMIP3. The drying was strongly influenced by the robust positive trend in the NAO from the 1960s to ... |
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