09/09/2026
Sellel reedel, 11. septembril kell 10:00 kõneleb Ökoloogia keskuse seminaris (ruumis M-523) Prof. Piero Lionello (University of Salento) teemal: "Mediterranean Climate Change in the Global Context: Regional Specificities, Emerging Risks and Future Change”.
Seminari tutvustus:
"The Mediterranean is widely recognized as a climate-change hotspot, where warming over land exceeds the global mean, particularly in summer, and the combination of rising temperatures and declining precipitation intensifies risks for ecosystems and societies. This seminar will place these regional changes in the context of global climate change, distinguishing the specific features of the Mediterranean response from those shared with other regions.
The discussion will first consider the observed and projected evolution of Mediterranean climate, including enhanced summer warming, the tendency towards reduced mean precipitation, and the resulting increase in aridity. Particular attention will be given to climate extremes—heatwaves, droughts, heavy precipitation and storms—distinguishing changes that are already clearly detectable from those whose trends remain spatially heterogeneous or uncertain. Changes in the Mediterranean Sea, including ocean warming, marine heatwaves and sea-level rise, will also be placed in their global context.
More than a climate-change hotspot, the Mediterranean is a hotspot of climate-related risk. Warming, increasing aridity, extremes and sea-level rise interact with water scarcity, densely populated and highly developed coastal areas, vulnerable ecosystems, socioeconomic inequalities and multiple non-climatic pressures. The resulting risks are often compound and interconnected, affecting water resources, food production, human health, ecosystems and coastal settlements. The seminar will therefore consider not only how the Mediterranean climate is changing, but also why changes of comparable magnitude may produce particularly severe consequences in this region."
BIO:
Piero Lionello is full professor of Oceanography and Atmospheric Science at the University of Salento, Lecce (Italy). He is a climatologist with a focus on the climate of the Mediterranean Region, its past and future evolution, impacts of climate change and extreme events. He is the chairman of the MedCLIVAR (Mediterranean CLImate VARiability) network, has been member of the Scientific Advisory Board of ECMWF (European Center for Medium Range Weather Forecast). He has been a Leading Author of the IPCC WG2-AR6chapters devoted to "Europe" and "The Mediterranean". He has edited three books on the Climate of the Mediterranean Region, several special issues of international scientific journals, and organised many conferences and meetings on related topics.
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