The linkage between Arctic Climate change and weather and climate Extremesover Central Europe
In the last decades, dramatic Arctic climate change has occurred. Warming of theArctic, much faster than the global average (Arctic amplification) is related tosignificant sea-ice retreat. At the same time, a large number of extreme weather andclimate events occurred in the Northern Hemisphere mid-latitudes. Whether changesin the frequency and magnitude of these extremes is natural or due to anthropogenicinfluence is under debate. Many types of extremes like heat waves or extremeprecipitation are related to anomalies in the large-scale atmospheric circulation.Recent studies emphasize that Arctic amplification can contribute to changes in themid-latitude atmospheric circulation. This project advances our understanding of themechanisms underlying the chain of linkages between Arctic climate change andextremes over Central Europe. It investigates, whether changes in these extremescan be attributed to Arctic climate changes, in particular sea ice loss. We put a focuson the links between sea ice changes, large-scale circulation anomalies, and theirdirect and indirect effects on the occurrence and severity of meteorological extremes.
Institutions: Alfred Wegener Institute, Freie Unniversität Berlin
Contact: Johannes Riebold, Andy Richling