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Special Issue "Extreme Weather and Climate Events: Global and Regional Aspects"

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A special issue of Atmosphere (ISSN 2073-4433). This special issue belongs to the section "Climatology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 December 2021) | Viewed by 13729

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Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Galina Surkova

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Guest Editor

Department of Meteorology and Climatology, Faculty of Geography, Lomonosov Moscow State University, 119991 Moscow, Russia
Interests: climate change; atmosphere–ocean interaction; climate modeling; climate extremes

Prof. Dr. Alexander Olchev

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Guest Editor

Department of Meteorology and Climatology, Faculty of Geography, Lomonosov Moscow State University, 119991 Moscow, Russia
Interests: climate change in the past, present, and future; GHG flux measurements; modeling of energy, water, and carbon dioxide fluxes; response of tropical rainforests to ENSO events; response of atmospheric fluxes to forest disturbances
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The overall goal of this Special Issue is to investigate and bring together the most recent experimental and modeling studies focused on a spatial and temporal variability of the extreme weather and climate events (e.g., windstorms and droughts, heat waves, floods, etc.), their prediction, and mitigation. Today, weather extremes are always at the top of the list of global risks in terms of likelihood and their impact on human activity and environments according to the Global Risks Report 2020 published by the World Economic Forum, because of their serious threat to global stability. It is obvious that the climate is changing, and with it, its extremes. Dealing with extreme weather and climate events is a challenge in terms of decision making under uncertainty and analyzing the response in the context of risk management. This is why research, applications, technology, and innovation in the field of weather and climate extremes, spanning from monitoring extreme events to their modeling, is needed now more than ever to mitigate and solve, in the long-term, this global issue and enable environment sustainability and economic growth.

For this Special Issue, we invite scientists working in meteorology, climatology, hydrology, ecology, economy, and sociology to contribute original research articles, as well as some reviews, dealing with extreme weather and climate events. Contributions can include but are not limited to understanding, modeling, and predicting weather and climate extremes in various spatial scales (from local to global), their possible impact on humans, and possible ways to mitigate the effects of extreme events and to reduce the damage they cause.

Prof. Dr. Galina Surkova
Prof. Dr. Alexander Olchev
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Atmosphere is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2000 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

Climate change
Extreme events
Modeling
Mitigation

Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

Open AccessArticle

Characteristics of Swell-like Waves in the East Coast of Korea Using Atmospheric and Wave Hindcast Data

and

Atmosphere 2022, 13(2), 286; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos13020286 - 08 Feb 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1139

Abstract

The long-term trend of swell-like waves invading the east coast of Korea was identified by using observations and hindcast data from 1979 to 2016. We defined a swell-like wave as a wave with a height of 2 m and a peak period of 10 s on the basis of a literature review of human casualties and property damage in the region. In total, 179 swell-like wave cases were detected from 1979 to 2016, with 132 cases caused by extratropical cyclones (ETCs). The track density analysis indicated that the ETCs were mainly generated on the east coast of China, over the East/Japan Sea, and over the Kuroshio-Oyashio extension region and then moved northeast. This reflects the prevailing wind direction, which was the most significant factor in generating the swell-like waves. The number of swell-like waves has been significantly increasing since the 2000s. This increasing trend of swell-like waves is linked with the synoptic eddy activity with a correlation of 0.53. They were associated with the reversed meridional gradient of surface air temperature and the consequent negative vertical wind shear anomaly near 40° N. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Extreme Weather and Climate Events: Global and Regional Aspects)

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Open AccessArticle

Causes of the Record-Breaking Pacific Northwest Heatwave, Late June 2021

James E. Overland

Atmosphere 2021, 12(11), 1434; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos12111434 - 30 Oct 2021

Cited by 25 | Viewed by 4194

Abstract

The extreme heat event that hit the Pacific Northwest (Oregon, Washington, southern British Columbia) at the end of June 2021 was 3 °C greater than the previous Seattle record of 39 °C; larger extremes of 49 °C were observed further inland that were 6 °C above previous record. There were hundreds of deaths over the region and loss of marine life and forests. At the large scale prior to the event, the polar vortex was split over the Arctic. A polar vortex instability center formed over the Bering Sea and then extended southward along the west coast of North America. The associated tropospheric trough (low geopotential heights) established a multi-day synoptic scale Omega Block (west-east oriented low/high/low geopotential heights) centered over the Pacific Northwest. Warming was sustained in the region due to subsidence/adiabatic heating and solar radiation, which were the main reasons for such large temperature extremes. The seasonal transition at the end of spring suggests the possibility of a southern excursion of a polar vortex/jet stream pair. Both the Pacific Northwest event in 2021 and the Siberian heatwave climax in June 2020 may be examples of crossing a critical state in large-scale atmospheric circulation variability. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Extreme Weather and Climate Events: Global and Regional Aspects)

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Open AccessArticle

Hindcasts of Sea Surface Wind around the Korean Peninsula Using the WRF Model: Added Value Evaluation and Estimation of Extreme Wind Speeds

and

Atmosphere 2021, 12(7), 895; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos12070895 - 10 Jul 2021

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1981

Abstract

Sea surface wind plays an essential role in the simulating and predicting ocean phenomena. However, it is difficult to obtain accurate data with uniform spatiotemporal scale. A high-resolution (10 km) sea surface wind hindcast around the Korean Peninsula (KP) is presented using the weather research and forecasting model focusing on wind speed. The hindcast data for 39 years (1979–2017) are obtained by performing a three-dimensional variational analysis data assimilation, using ERA-Interim as initial and boundary conditions. To evaluate the added value of the hindcasts, the ASCAT-L2 satellite-based gridded data (DASCAT) is employed and regarded as “True” during 2008–2017. Hindcast and DASCAT data are verified using buoy observations from 1997–2017. The added value of the hindcast compared to ERA-Interim is evaluated using a modified Brier skill score method and analyzed for seasonality and wind intensity. Hindcast data primarily adds value to the coastal areas of the KP, particularly over the Yellow Sea in the summer, the East Sea in the winter, and the Korean Strait in all seasons. In case of strong winds (10–25 m·s⁻¹), the hindcast performed better in the East Sea area. The estimation of extreme wind speeds is performed based on the added value and 50-year and 100-year return periods are estimated using a Weibull distribution. The results of this study can provide a reference dataset for climate perspective storm surge and wave simulation studies. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Extreme Weather and Climate Events: Global and Regional Aspects)

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Open AccessArticle

Cut-Off Lows and Extreme Precipitation in Eastern Spain: Current and Future Climate

Rosana Nieto Ferreira

Atmosphere 2021, 12(7), 835; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos12070835 - 28 Jun 2021

Cited by 14 | Viewed by 1595

Abstract

This study presents a seasonal synoptic climatology of cut-off lows (COLs) that produced extreme precipitation in the Valencia region of Spain during 1998–2018 and uses simulations with the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model to study how extreme COL precipitation may change in a future warmer climate. COLs were shown to be the main producer of extreme precipitation in the Valencia region, especially during the transition seasons. The strongest raining COL events occurred during September–November. Six-day composites of thermodynamic and dynamic fields and precipitation show that COLs that produce extreme precipitation in this region remain stationary over Spain for 2–3 days and tend to produce precipitation over the Valencia region for at least two consecutive days. In the low levels these COLs are characterized by low pressure over the Mediterranean sea and winds with an easterly, onshore component thus fueling precipitation. Comparison of current and future climate ensembles of WRF simulations of 14 September–November extreme precipitation producing COL events suggest that in a warmer climate extreme COL precipitation may increase by as much as 88% in northeastern Spain and 61% in the adjoining Mediterranean Sea. These projected increases in extreme COL precipitation in the northeast of Spain present additional challenges to a region where COL flooding already has significant socio-economic impacts. Additionally, about half of the future climate COL event simulations showed increases in precipitation in the Valencian region of eastern Spain. These results provide important nuance to projections of a decreasing trend of total precipitation in the Iberian Peninsula as the climate warms. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Extreme Weather and Climate Events: Global and Regional Aspects)

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Open AccessArticle

Black Carbon Emissions from the Siberian Fires 2019: Modelling of the Atmospheric Transport and Possible Impact on the Radiation Balance in the Arctic Region

and

Atmosphere 2021, 12(7), 814; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos12070814 - 24 Jun 2021

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1732

Abstract

The work is devoted to the study of the climatic effects of black carbon (BC) transferred from forest fires to the Arctic zone. The HYSPLIT (The Hybrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory model) trajectory model was used to initially assess the potential for particle transport from fires. The results of the trajectory analysis of the 2019 fires showed that the probability of the transfer of particles to the Arctic ranges from 1% to 10%, and in some cases increases to 20%. Detailed studies of the possible influence of BC ejected as a result of fires became possible by using the climate model of the INMCM5 (Institute of Numerical Mathematics Climate Model). The results of the numerical experiments have shown that the maximum concentration of BC in the Arctic atmosphere is observed in July and August and is associated with emissions from fires. The deposition of BC in the Arctic increases by about 1.5–2 times in the same months, in comparison with simulation without forest fire emissions. This caused an average decrease in solar radiation forcing of 0.3–0.4 Wt/m² and an increase in atmospheric radiation heating of up to 5–6 Wt/m². To assess the radiation forcing from BC contaminated snow, we used the dependences of the change in the snow albedo on the snow depth, and the albedo of the underlying surface for a given amount of BC fallen on the snow. These dependences were constructed on the basis of the SNICAR (Snow, Ice, and Aerosol Radiative) model. According to our calculations, the direct radiative forcing from BC in the atmosphere with a clear sky is a maximum of 4–5 W/m² in July and August. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Extreme Weather and Climate Events: Global and Regional Aspects)

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Open AccessArticle

Assessing the Risks of Vessel Icing and Aviation Hazards during Downslope Windstorms in the Russian Arctic

Anna A. Shestakova

Atmosphere 2021, 12(6), 760; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos12060760 - 11 Jun 2021

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2036

Abstract

Downslope windstorms are known sources of hazardous weather, such as severe gusty winds, rapid temperature changes, ship icing, strong turbulence and others, posing a great danger to people and infrastructure. This paper investigates the risks of ship icing and aviation hazards (rapid changes in the angle of attack and gust load factor) during downslope windstorms in five regions in the Russian Arctic based on observational data, reanalysis, and mesoscale numerical modeling. The highest frequency of ship icing was found during downslope windstorms downstream from Svalbard and Novaya Zemlya. Icing is rare during Tiksi and Wrangel Island downslope windstorms due to almost permanent sea ice cover during the cold season, while icing is absent during very warm Pevek downslope windstorm even in the ice-free conditions. Conditions for heavy icing are rather frequent (up to 5% of cases in winter) during Novaya Zemlya downslope windstorms and less frequent (up to 0.5% in spring) during Svalbard windstorm. The presence of downslope windstorms in those regions causes an increase in the maximum icing rate by about 2 times. Strong aviation turbulence hazardous for light aircraft is typical for all considered regions with downslope windstorms; it is observed mainly at an altitude of 1 to 4 km above the surface. Hazardous turbulence for jet aircraft like Boeing 737 on its cruising flight levels was found on Svalbard and in Tiksi region in 10–15% of cases during strong downslope windstorms. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Extreme Weather and Climate Events: Global and Regional Aspects)

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