I - 34151 Trieste Italy
(+39) 040 2240 111
pio@ictp.it
The Earth System Physics (ESP) section studies a wide spectrum of the Earth system, from its fluid components (oceans and the atmosphere) to the planet's interior. The ESP section maintains a range of models and datasets and coordinates the Regional Climate research NETwork (RegCNET), encompassing over 600 participants worldwide.
12 May 2022
ICTP celebrates International Year of Basic Sciences for Sustainable Development
27 Apr 2022
5 May event to focus on gender balance in local scientific and academic institutions
13 Apr 2022
For research in climate dynamics, climate variability and ocean-atmosphere interactions
28 Mar 2022
An ICTP event for schools on women in science and climate change
Europe/Rome
2022-05-31 15:30:00
2022-05-31 17:00:00
ICTP/UniTN/UniAQ Joint Seminar - Impacts of Deep Convection on the Tropical Low Cloud Feedback and Climate Sensitivity
Lecture 9 of the
ICTP/UniTN/UniAQ Joint International Seminar Series
on Weather and Climate: From Fundamentals to Applications
Register in advance for this meeting:
https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJAuce-orjIuGdY-H52Uoj03paRhzpIoIwBl
Abstract
Climate model simulations are known to be sensitive to parameter choices in the sub grid-scale representation of deep convection, as deep convection plays a critical role in the transport of heat and momentum globally. Over the years, it has also become evident that the intermodel spread in the warming response to anthropogenic forcing is largely driven by uncertainties in the magnitude of the cloud feedback in the tropics, specifically the low cloud feedback. In this talk, I will discuss how parameterization differences among models and changes to deep convection in response to anthropogenic warming are likely contributing significantly to the intermodel spread in the tropical cloud feedback. I will present evidence of two physical pathways linking deep convection to low clouds and their response to anthropogenic forcing: the "Radiation-Subsidence" Pathway and the "Stability" Pathway. In a warmer world, the tropical overturning circulation is projected to weaken. We find that the overturning circulation does not weaken as much in climate models with more stable tropospheres, which ultimately leads to a more positive low cloud feedback (Stability Pathway). Differences in deep convective parameterization modifying deep convection onset thresholds – such as the fractional rate of entrainment into convective updrafts – can contribute significantly to this intermodel spread in static stability. Additionally, changes to the total area occupied by deep convection in the tropics modify the high cloud fraction, which is linked to subsidence changes and the low cloud feedback (Radiation-Subsidence Pathway). Results from both the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP6) and a perturbation physics ensemble in the Community Earth System model (NCAR CESM) will be presented and discussed.
Zoom Event
ICTP
pio@ictp.it
31 May 2022
» ICTP/UniTN/UniAQ Joint Seminar - Impacts of Deep Convection on the Tropical Low Cloud Feedback and Climate Sensitivity
Europe/Rome
2022-06-14 15:30:00
2022-06-14 17:00:00
ICTP/UniTN/UniAQ Joint Seminar - How Do Ocean Temperature Anomalies Favor or Disfavor the Aggregation of Deep Convective Clouds?
Lecture 10 of the
ICTP/UniTN/UniAQ Joint International Seminar Series
on Weather and Climate: From Fundamentals to Applications
Register in advance for this meeting:
https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJAuce-orjIuGdY-H52Uoj03paRhzpIoIwBl
Abstract
Convective organization at mesoscales (hundreds of kilometres) is ubiquitous in the tropics, but the physical processes behind it are still poorly understood. Organization can be forced by the large scales, such as surface temperature gradients. But convective organization can also arise from internal feedbacks, such as "self-aggregation" feedbacks. Self-aggregation refers to the spectacular ability of deep clouds to spontaneously cluster in space despite spatially homogeneous conditions and no large-scale forcing, in high-resolution cloud-resolving models (CRMs).Because of the idealized settings in which self-aggregation has been studied (typically radiative-convective equilibrium (RCE) over homogeneous sea-surface temperature (SST)), its relevance to the real tropics is debated. In this presentation, we will investigate the impact of removing some of these idealizations on the aggregation process. Specifically, we will investigate the impact of inhomogeneous SSTs on convective aggregation.
In a first step, we will investigate how an idealized warm circular SST anomaly, referred to as "hot-spot", helps organize convection, and how self-aggregation feedbacks modulate this organization. The presence of a hot-spot significantly accelerates aggregation, particularly for larger domains and warmer/larger hot-spots, and extends the range of SSTs for which aggregation occurs. In that case, the aggregation onset results from a large-scale circulation induced by the hot-spot.In a second step, we will investigate the interaction of aggregation with an interactive surface (local SST evolving according to the surface energy budget). The results will be interpreted in light of a simple model for the boundary layer circulation.
Zoom Event
ICTP
pio@ictp.it
14 Jun 2022
» ICTP/UniTN/UniAQ Joint Seminar - How Do Ocean Temperature Anomalies Favor or Disfavor the Aggregation of Deep Convective Clouds?
Europe/Rome
2022-06-20 08:00:00
2022-07-01 22:00:00
Artificial Intelligence for Detection and Attribution of Climate Extremes | (smr 3717)
An ICTP Hybrid Meeting. You can submit your application for participation in presence or online.
During the last 5-10 years, a large number of extreme weather and climate events in Europe and worldwide have occurred, causing damage to infrastructure and casualties especially in developing countries. This has raised the question about the role of climate change in altering the odds or the magnitude of a number of such events and the new "science of attribution" has began with several attribution published all around the world. The aim of the school is to define techniques to tackle the problem of attributing meteorological extreme events to climate change by mean of machine learning technologies. Lectures will also focus on determining causal links of extreme events with the underlying climate dynamics as the atmospheric circulation. The school will also discuss and provide the bases for communicating attribution results to the general public, stakeholders and other scientists in an exact although non specialist language.
Topics:
Dynamics and thermodynamics of extreme events (including heatwaves, cold spells, severe convective events, tropical and extra-tropical cyclones, compound extremes at different scales)
Statistical tools for extreme event attribution (including rare events algorithms, compound climate extremes, storylines, casual inference, downscaling and bias correction)
Machine Learning for extreme event attribution (including phyisics-aware machine learning, explainable artificial intelligence for climate sciences, casual discovery algorithms for extreme events)
Outreach and communication training (including a creative writing workshop, communication of extreme event attribution to the general public, school outreach activities and outreach videogames)
Speakers:
E. BARNES, Colorado State U, USA
E. BEVACQUA, UFZ Leipzig, Germany
G. CAMPS-VALLS, ISP-UVEG, Spain
E. COPPOLA, ICTP, Italy
E. COUGHLAN DE PEREZ, RCCC, Netherlands
D. COUMOU, VU Amsterdam, Netherlands
D. FARANDA, LSCE CNRS, France
M.A. FERNÁNDEZ-TORRES, ISP-UVEG, Spain
E. FISCHER, ETH Zurich, Switzerland
L. FRASER, Met Office, UK
A. JEZEQUEL, IPSL-LMD, France
S. KLEIN, OCE, France
M. KRETSCHMER, U Reading, UK
G. MESSORI, Uppsala U, Sweden
F. OTTO, Imperial College, UK
J. RUNGE, DLR, Germany
T. SHEPHERD, U Reading, UK
R. SINGH, RCCC, Netherlands
S. SIPPEL, ETH Zurich, Switzerland
P. SUAREZ, RCCC, Netherlands
R. VAUTARD, IPSL CNRS, France
M. VRAC, LSCE, France
P. YIOU, LSCE, France
Participants are encouraged to submit abstracts for contributed talk. A number of short oral presentation slots will be available for some of them upon selection. During the application please make sure to use our templates to format your abstract in PDFs. Templates are available below for download.
Accepted participants will be able to attend in remote or strictly following Italian sanitary rules as they will be applicable at the time of the conference, and depending on the very limited number of available places in person. As regards the COVID-19 policy, we advise to follow the updated rules available on the ICTP page ICTP Access Guidelines for Visitors.
Grants: A limited number of grants are available to support the attendance of selected participants, with priority given to participants from developing countries. There is no registration fee.
ICTP
ICTP
pio@ictp.it
20 Jun 2022
- 1 Jul 2022
» Artificial Intelligence for Detection and Attribution of Climate Extremes | (smr 3717)
Europe/Rome
2022-07-11 08:00:00
2022-07-15 22:00:00
ICTP-Africa Joint School on Rainfall and Water Resources Management | (smr 3724)
Kigali - Rwanda
ICTP
pio@ictp.it
11 Jul 2022
- 15 Jul 2022
» ICTP-Africa Joint School on Rainfall and Water Resources Management | (smr 3724)
Europe/Rome
2022-07-18 08:00:00
2022-07-29 22:00:00
3rd Summer School on Theory, Mechanisms and Hierarchical Modeling of Climate Dynamics: Tropical Oceans, ENSO and their teleconnections | (smr 3727)
An ICTP Hybrid Meeting You can submit your application for participation in presence or online.
The El-Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is a strong driver of significant weather and climate anomalies across the globe. ENSO is probably one of the most studied phenomena in climate research, but there are still many open research questions, which will be discussed in this school.
ENSO teleconnections continue to be an area of very active research. They include not only effects on the circulation over the mid-latitudes (Europe, Asia, North America, South America), but also a strong influence on the Asian Monsoon. The Monsoon also has its own set of teleconnections not all of which are related to ENSO. It will be very helpful for researchers and students alike to learn the latest advances in the understanding of ENSO dynamics and its broad range of teleconnections. One emphasis of this workshop will be the Asian Monsoon, which is a complex phenomenon of great importance to the regional agriculture and hence to the well-being of a very significant population. In recent years there has been an advance in understanding of how the Monsoon is affected by, and interacts with, the tropical ocean basins, the adjoining land masses, mid-latitudes and the stratosphere.
Topics:
Tropical ocean (ENSO) dynamics, including phenomenology
ENSO theory, modeling, prediction
Decadal Variability and long term trends
ENSO teleconnections
Decadal variations of interannual teleconnections
Inter-basin connections
Tropical-extratropical teleconnections
Lecturers include:
M.A. ABID, ICTP, Italy
S. BORDONI, University of Trento, Italy
A. CAPOTONDI, University of Colorado and NOAA/PSL, USA
A. CHERCHI, INGV, Italy
A. FEDOROV, Yale University, USA
E. GUILYARDI, LOCEAN/IPSL, France
F.-F. JIN, University of Hawaii, USA
I.-S. KANG, Second Institute of Oceanography, China
B. KIRTMAN, University of Miami, USA
V. KRISHNAMURTHY, George Mason University, USA
M. L'HEUREUX, NOAA/CPC, USA
J. MARSHALL, MIT, USA
M. MCPHADEN, NOAA/PMEL, USA
F. MOLTENI, ECMWF, UK
Y. PLANTON, NOAA/PMEL, USA
A.M. RAVINDRAN, Center for Prototype Climate Modelling, UAE
A. ROBERTSON, Columbia University
A. SANTOSO, University of New South Wales and CSIRO, Australia
J. SHUKLA, George Mason University, USA
E. SWENSON, GMU, USA
C. WANG, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China
A. WITTENBERG, NOAA/GFDL, USA
S.-P. XIE, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UCSD, USA
Applicants are required to submit 'Research Abstract'. A number of abstracts will be selected for a contributed talk or for a poster session. During the application please make sure to use our templates to format your abstract in PDFs. Templates are available below for download.
Accepted participants will be able to attend in remote or — strictly following Italian sanitary rules as they will be applicable at the time of the school, and depending on the very limited number of available places — in person. As regards the COVID-19 policy, we advise to follow the updated rules available on the ICTP page Access Guidelines for Visitors.
Grants: A limited number of grants are available to support the attendance of selected participants, with priority given to participants from developing countries. There is no registration fee.
ICTP
ICTP
pio@ictp.it
18 Jul 2022
- 29 Jul 2022
» 3rd Summer School on Theory, Mechanisms and Hierarchical Modeling of Climate Dynamics: Tropical Oceans, ENSO and their teleconnections | (smr 3727)
Europe/Rome
2022-08-01 08:00:00
2022-08-05 22:00:00
Advancing Subtropical Climate Dynamics: Diagonal Convergence Zones, Droughts, and Floods in Past, Present and Future Climates | (smr 3687)
Online -
ICTP
pio@ictp.it
1 Aug 2022
- 5 Aug 2022
» Advancing Subtropical Climate Dynamics: Diagonal Convergence Zones, Droughts, and Floods in Past, Present and Future Climates | (smr 3687)
Earth system models attempt to represent the key processes that determine the climate of our planet, such as the atmospheric and ocean circulations, aerosols and atmospheric chemistry, biogeochemical cycles, the cryosphere, and land surface processes. The research of the group uses model tools such as the latest generation of the regional climate model REGCM and intermediate complexity global model SPEEDY to understand our climate, its natural variability and its response to anthropogenic forcings.
Climate extremes in the present day and in future decades can have severe implications, with the poorest members of societies being often the most vulnerable. The ESP group uses dynamical and statistical modelling techniques to assess the socio-economic impacts of climate
variability and change, for example on energy, water and health. As with the climate models, the dynamical impact models CHYM and VECTRI are made available to the wider scientific community through regular workshops and training events.