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Climate Variability in the Mediterranean Region (Second Edition)
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Climate Variability in the Mediterranean Region (Second Edition)

A special issue of Climate (ISSN 2225-1154). This special issue belongs to the section "Climate Dynamics and Modelling".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 June 2026 | Viewed by 6484

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Nir Y. Krakauer

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Civil Engineering, City College of New York, New York, NY 10031, USA
Interests: climate change; water resources planning; groundwater; land–atmosphere interaction; sustainable agriculture; urban ecological design; carbon cycle monitoring; renewable energy resource assessment; probabilistic forecasting; data assimilation; model uncertainty assessment
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Due to the overwhelming support and interest in the previous Special Issue (SI), we are introducing a second edition of “Climate Variability in the Mediterranean Region”. We would like to thank all of the authors and co-authors who contributed to the success of the first edition of this SI.

The Mediterranean is a region with rugged topography, with dominantly winter precipitation alongside summer aridity, unique biodiversity, and a long human history. The landscape has been shaped by pronounced climate variability over timescales from seasons to millennia. Currently, the region is a climate change hotspot and is experiencing challenges ranging from drought and fire to intense floods and water quality concerns. Understanding climate variability and its impacts requires the integration of observational (in situ and remote sensing), simulation, and statistical methods. This Special Issue welcomes submissions across disciplines including archaeology and paleoclimatology, meteorology, the modelling of climate variability and change, hydrologic and geomorphologic aspects, biology and ecology, the social sciences, and urban studies. We are particularly seeking contributions that provide fresh perspectives, apply novel tools to regional problems, and set climate variability and change in broader contexts.

Dr. Nir Y. Krakauer
Guest Editor

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.

Keywords

  • Africa
  • aridity
  • Asia
  • climate variability and change
  • climate–society nexus
  • Europe
  • hydrology
  • land cover and land-use change
  • teleconnections
  • urban climate

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Related Special Issue

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

21 pages, 1959 KB  
Article
Understanding Trends in Near-Surface Air Temperature Lapse Rates in a Southern Mediterranean Region
by Gaetano Pellicone, Tommaso Caloiero and Ilaria Guagliardi
Climate 2026, 14(4), 76; https://doi.org/10.3390/cli14040076 - 25 Mar 2026
Viewed by 775
Abstract
This study investigates the spatiotemporal variability of the near-surface air temperature lapse rate (NSATLR) in Calabria, a region representative of typical Mediterranean environmental and climatic conditions. Through the integration of observational datasets and model simulations, a global sensitivity analysis using the Sobol method, [...] Read more.
This study investigates the spatiotemporal variability of the near-surface air temperature lapse rate (NSATLR) in Calabria, a region representative of typical Mediterranean environmental and climatic conditions. Through the integration of observational datasets and model simulations, a global sensitivity analysis using the Sobol method, and Bayesian linear regression modelling across annual, seasonal, and monthly scales, the primary drivers of near-surface air temperature (NSAT) variability were identified. Results demonstrate that altitude is the dominant factor influencing temperature distribution, with minimal contributions from other geographical parameters such as latitude, longitude, and proximity to the sea. The Bayesian models yielded robust performance for mean and maximum temperatures, while minimum temperature proved more challenging to predict. Lapse rate analyses confirmed a consistent inverse relationship between temperature and elevation, with the steepest gradients observed for Tmin. In particular, a significant long-term decline in lapse rates over the past 70 years, especially during winter and autumn, points to accelerated warming at higher elevations, primarily driven by rising Tmin values. This trend suggests a gradual homogenization of temperature across altitudes, with important implications for ecosystem dynamics, snowpack stability, and climate-sensitive sectors such as agriculture and urban planning. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Climate Variability in the Mediterranean Region (Second Edition))
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17 pages, 12160 KB  
Article
Analysis of Precipitation Climatology Trends over Greece Based on Gridded Observational and Reanalysis Databases
by Adrianos Retalis, Dimitrios Katsanos, Ioannis Lemesios and Christos Giannakopoulos
Climate 2026, 14(2), 41; https://doi.org/10.3390/cli14020041 - 2 Feb 2026
Viewed by 906
Abstract
This study presents an analysis of 40-years (1981–2020) precipitation climatology of ERA5-Land and E-OBS gridded datasets over Greece. The analysis focused on trends in total annual, low, moderate, and extreme precipitation—as well as number of rainy days—corresponding to the climatically diverse geographical areas [...] Read more.
This study presents an analysis of 40-years (1981–2020) precipitation climatology of ERA5-Land and E-OBS gridded datasets over Greece. The analysis focused on trends in total annual, low, moderate, and extreme precipitation—as well as number of rainy days—corresponding to the climatically diverse geographical areas of Greece. Substantial differences were found in the results between the two datasets that could be attributed to the nature of data sources. In general, ERA5-Land revealed slightly negative trends in total precipitation amount, an increase in low and moderate precipitation intensity, and an overall positive trend in extreme precipitation intensity. E-OBS demonstrated a rather negative trend in total precipitation amount, a clear decline in Crete in low precipitation intensity, a positive trend in northern Greece, and a negative trend in Southern Greece and Crete for moderate intensity, while no clear trend was revealed for most parts of Greece for extreme precipitation intensity. Regarding the corresponding results for the number of rainy days (NRD), a significant reduction was evident for E-OBS data and a slight increase for ERA5-Land data for total precipitation amount. Analysis of low precipitation intensity indicated a slight increase for ERA5-Land and an overall reduction for E-OBS. The differences are less pronounced for moderate precipitation intensity, while for extreme precipitation intensity, differences were considered as rather localized. Finally, both datasets showed positive trends in northern or mountainous geographical areas while exhibiting controversial results mainly over southern and coastal zones. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Climate Variability in the Mediterranean Region (Second Edition))
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15 pages, 3175 KB  
Article
From Descriptive Records to Instrumental Measurements: Addressing Inhomogeneities in the 250-Year Fog Time Series of Padua
by Claudio Stefanini, Francesca Becherini, Antonio della Valle, Fabio Zecchini and Dario Camuffo
Climate 2025, 13(11), 224; https://doi.org/10.3390/cli13110224 - 30 Oct 2025
Viewed by 1466
Abstract
The fog in Padua, Italy, is the result of a complex interplay between local climate, pollution and synoptic-scale meteorological conditions. The modern definition of “fog” was adopted by the World Meteorological Organization, founded in 1950. Prior to that, no precise visibility threshold had [...] Read more.
The fog in Padua, Italy, is the result of a complex interplay between local climate, pollution and synoptic-scale meteorological conditions. The modern definition of “fog” was adopted by the World Meteorological Organization, founded in 1950. Prior to that, no precise visibility threshold had been established, and early meteorological observers recorded its occurrence based on subjective criteria. The meteorological observations made in Padua since the mid-18th century include sky conditions and fog, but the distinction between fog and mist was undefined, making it difficult to compare records from different observers. Caution is therefore needed when analyzing fog occurrence to distinguish the climate signal from observational artifacts. For instance, at the Specola Observatory in Padua from 1773 to 1913, the fog that appeared only on the horizon—but not at the zenith—was often disregarded, since vertical visibility was crucial for astronomical observations. Starting from 1920, other manned stations began providing systematic fog records, which have continued to the present. The aim of this study is to reconstruct the occurrence of fog in Padua since the late 18th century. As available datasets —observational and instrumental—partly overlap in time, and data from nearby locations are available, it is possible to assess their mutual consistency, to evaluate the reliability of historical visual observations, and to investigate fog variability and trend over time. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Climate Variability in the Mediterranean Region (Second Edition))
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31 pages, 18162 KB  
Article
Recovery and Reconstructions of 18th Century Precipitation Records in Italy: Problems and Analyses
by Antonio della Valle, Francesca Becherini and Dario Camuffo
Climate 2025, 13(6), 131; https://doi.org/10.3390/cli13060131 - 19 Jun 2025
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2473
Abstract
Precipitation is one of the main meteorological variables in climate research and long records provide a unique, long-term knowledge of climatic variability and extreme events. Moreover, they are a prerequisite for climate modeling and reanalyses. Like all meteorological observations, in the early period, [...] Read more.
Precipitation is one of the main meteorological variables in climate research and long records provide a unique, long-term knowledge of climatic variability and extreme events. Moreover, they are a prerequisite for climate modeling and reanalyses. Like all meteorological observations, in the early period, every observer used a personal measuring protocol. Instruments and their locations were not standardized and not always specified in the observer’s metadata. The situation began to change in 1873 with the foundation of the International Meteorological Committee, though the complete standardization of protocols, instruments, and exposure was reached in 1950 with the World Meteorological Organization. The aim of this paper is to present and discuss the methodology needed to recover and reconstruct early precipitation records and to provide high-quality dataset of precipitation usable for climate studies. The main issues that have to be addresses are described and critically analyzed based on the longest Italian precipitation series to which the methodology was successfully applied. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Climate Variability in the Mediterranean Region (Second Edition))
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