SESSION 2

Climate Predictions and their applications in the Mediterranean region.

Conveners: Silvio Guadi (CMCC, Bologna, Italy) , Kristina Fröhlich (DWD, Offenbach, Germany)

Capability to predict climate fluctuations from sub–seasonal–to–decadal timescales can have large and significant socio–economic benefits. However, our limited understanding of the mechanisms and processes responsible for predictability and model systematic errors hampers our capability to simulate and forecast climate variability. Thus, the current forecast quality is relatively low. The purpose of this session is to review and discuss the current understanding of climate variability and sources of predictability in the Mediterranean region and surrounding areas. We welcome studies that explore variability from sub–seasonal–to–decadal timescales, analyze and investigate the possible drivers of this variability, and discuss the capability of state–of–the–art forecasting systems to predict meteo–climatic anomalous states, providing data and information useful to the production of climate services in relevant economic sectors. Furthermore, the submission of contributions on the applications of climate predictions, at various time scales, aimed at the production of climate services in sectors of interest and socio-economic importance for the Mediterranean region is encouraged.