SESSION 6
Past, Present and Future change of Mediterranean-type climates
Conveners: Jelena Lukovic (University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia) , Richard Seager (Columbia University, New York, USA)
The Mediterranean climate type is defined by mild wet and dry hot summers. It covers the Mediterranean region itself, California, central Chile, southern Africa and southwest Australia. Climate variability and change exhibit similarities and differences across these regions. Despite the common perception of subtropical drying and expansion, projected climate changes differ across the different Mediterranean climates. Notably, the Mediterranean proper and southern hemisphere Mediterranean climates are projected to dry, but California is projected to get wetter. Commonalities and differences are found in the details of stationary waves, storm tracks and stratosphere-troposphere coupling and regional dissimilarities in the response to rising GHGs and ozone recovery in the southern hemisphere. We invite contributions that examine the character and mechanisms of Mediterranean-type climate variability and change in the past, present and future both for specific regions and, especially, comparing and contrasting across regions.