Cascading Climate Risks: Modelling Compound Events and Systemic Vulnerabilities

Dear Colleagues,

(1) In our increasingly interconnected global system, climate-driven hazards no longer occur in isolation. This Special Issue addresses the urgent need to conceptualize and quantify cascading climate risks—dynamic processes where primary atmospheric events interact with socio-economic vulnerabilities to trigger a "domino effect" of systemic failures. From the rural landscape to the complex urban environment, a single extreme event can propagate through critical infrastructure, destabilize agricultural outputs, and disrupt public health systems.

We invite original research and comprehensive reviews that transcend "single-hazard" thinking. We are particularly interested in studies that employ advanced numerical modeling, empirical data analysis, and systemic risk frameworks to map these non-linear complexities. Our goal is to synthesize cross-disciplinary insights that provide a robust scientific foundation for navigating the challenges of a warming world.

(2) This Special Issue aims to advance climate risk research by shifting the focus from isolated hazards to a systemic, multi-dimensional framework. It seeks to provide a high-impact platform for quantifying the "domino effects" of climate disasters, bridging the gap between physical climate dynamics and socio-economic resilience.

Relation to Journal Scope:

The proposal directly supports the core mission of Climate to publish interdisciplinary research on the physical and systemic impacts of atmospheric changes. It aligns with the journal’s scope by:

1. Enhancing Impact Analysis: Moving beyond single-event studies to explore risk propagation across infrastructure and ecosystems.
2. Advancing Climate Modelling: Prioritizing submissions that use numerical and statistical methods to simulate compound and sequential extremes.
3. Integrating Physical & Social Sciences: Addressing the journal’s focus on large-scale climate variability and the development of robust governance strategies for managing non-linear, "black swan" climate events.

(3) Primary themes of interest include, but are not limited to:

1. Compound and Sequential Extremes: Analysis of co-occurring or back-to-back hazards (e.g., synchronous droughts, heatwaves, and subsequent wildfire-to-flood transitions).
2. Network Vulnerability: Assessing how climate shocks propagate through global supply chains, energy grids, and critical transport infrastructure.
3. Socio-Physical Feedback Loops: Investigating the interplay between physical climate tipping points and social instability or migration.
4. Advanced Risk Governance: Development of adaptive strategies for managing high-uncertainty "black swan" events and systemic failures.
5. Rural-Urban Dynamics: Examining the differential and linked impacts of cascading disasters across varied settlement scales.

Dr. Argyro Zisiadou
Dr. Dimitris K. Papanastasiou
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 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

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. Climate 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 1800 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.

• cascading disasters
• compound climate hazards
• system risk
• infrastructure resilience
• climate-induced feedback loops
• multi-hazard risk assessment
• rural-urban dynamics
• global
• risk modeling