CIMME: Climate Change and Impacts in the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East
Changes in climatic conditions are expected to be particularly severe in the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East. This has a number of implications including increased temperatures and temperature extremes, decreased annual precipitation, associated with fresh water scarcity and vegetation shifts. Possible consequences are that food production is threatened, human health hazards and heat-related mortality are increased. Given the relatively high sensitivity to climate change and the limited capacity of the natural environment and the socio-economic sectors in the region to cope with these issues, we expect relatively high ecological and societal vulnerabilities. This calls for science-based international discussions, new adaptation strategies, and informed political and economical decisions. The project will bring together the available environmental and economical database and apply regional climate models to perform a regional assessment, including projections for the near and more distant future in the 21st century.
Report
The report with findings on this project is out. Download it here.
Publications
- Lelieveld, J., Hadjinicolaou, P., Kostopoulou, E., Chenoweth, J., El Maayar, M., Giannakopoulos, C., Hannides, C., Lange, M., Tanarhte, M., Tyrlis, E., Xoplaki, E., 2012. Climate change and impacts in the eastern mediterranean and the middle east. Climatic Change 114 (3), 667–687. URL http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10584-012-0418-4
- Tanarhte, M., Hadjinicolaou, P., Lelieveld, J., Jun. 2012. Intercomparison of temperature and precipitation data sets based on observations in the mediterranean and the middle east. Journal of Geophysical Research 117 (D12), D12102+. URL http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2011JD017293
- Chenoweth, J., Hadjinicolaou, P., Bruggeman, A., Lelieveld, J., Levin, Z., Lange, M. A., Xoplaki, E., Hadjikakou, M., Jun. 2011. Impact of climate change on the water resources of the eastern mediterranean and middle east region: Modeled 21st century changes and implications. Water Resources Research 47 (6), W06506+. URL http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2010WR010269
- Hadjinicolaou, P., C. Giannakopoulos, C. Zerefos, M. Lange, S. Pashiardis, and J. Lelieveld, "Mid-21st century climate and weather extremes in Cyprus as projected by six regional climate models", Regional Environmental Change: Springer Berlin / Heidelberg, pp. 1-17, 10/2010.
- Toreti, A., E. Xoplaki, D. Maraun, F. G. Kuglitsch, H. Wanner, and J. Luterbacher,"Characterisation of extreme winter precipitation in Mediterranean coastal sites and associated anomalous atmospheric circulation patterns", Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences, 2010.
- Luterbacher, J., S. J. Koenig, J. Franke, G. van der Schrier, E. Zorita, A. Moberg, J. Jacobeit, P. M. Della-Marta, M. Küttel, E. Xoplaki, et al., "Circulation dynamics and its influence on European and Mediterranean January-April climate over the past half millennium: results and insights from instrumental data, documentary evidence and coupled climate models", Climatic Change, 2010.
- Kuglitsch, F. G., A. Toreti, E. Xoplaki, P. M. Della-Marta, C. S. Zerefos, M. Türkes, and J. Luterbacher, "Heat Wave Changes in the Eastern Mediterranean since 1960", Geophysical Research Letters, 2010.
- Giannakopoulos, C., P. Hadjinicolaou, E. Kostopoulou, K. V. Varotsos, and C. Zerefos, "Precipitation and temperature regime over Cyprus as a result of global climate change", Advances in Geosciences, vol. 23, pp. 17–24, 2010.
- Giannakopoulos, C., P. Hadjinicolaou, C. Zerefos, and G. Demosthenous, "Changing Energy Requirements in the Mediterranean Under Changing Climatic Conditions", Energies, vol. 2, no. 4, pp. 805–815, 2009.
Presentations
During several conferences and workshops, (among which the 'Energy, Water & Climate Change in the Mediterranean & the Middle East') presentations were given by Cyprus Institute researchers on this project. You can find PDFs of them below.
- Projecting Climate Change in an Eastern Mediterranean Island: The Case of Cyprus by Panos Hadjinicolaou, Associate Research Scientist.
- Can we fix the climate?, by Jos Lelieveld, Institute Professor.
- Report on Cloud Seeding for Rain Enhancement (May 09), by Prof. Zev Levin
- 'Climate Change and the Eastern Mediterranean Precipitation Regime', by Manfred A. Lange, director of the Energy, Environment and Water Research Center (EEWRC) of the Cyprus Institute.
- 'Climate change in Cyprus: projections from regional climate model simulations', by Panos Hadjinicolaou, Associate Research Scientist.
- 'Severe ozone air pollution in the Persian Gulf region', by Jos Lelieveld, Institute Professor.
Contact person
Prof. Jos Lelieveld, email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Tel. +357 22208600
Additional Info
- Acronym: CIMME
- Center: EEWRC
- Funding Source: CyI internal funds
- CyI Funding: 500.000
- Funding Period: 36 months
- Starting Date: 01/03/2008
- End Date: 28/02/2011
- Coordinator: CyI/EEWRC
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Partners:
The Cyprus Institute (CY), National Observatory of Athens (EL), Max Planck Institute for Chemistry (DE), University of Athens (EL), University of Illinois (USA), University of Surrey (UK)
