| Date | Speaker | Title / Abstract |
|---|---|---|
| 13 January | Maria Shabir 📄 Presentation |
Energy innovation and ecological footprint: Evidence from OECD countries during 1990–2018 see more... |
| Recent developments in energy engineering and state-of-the art technologies to increase eco-friendly energy production are receiving increasing attention in scientific debate as engines of growth. Although the energy-growth-environment nexus has been extensively studied, the ecological implications of innovative technologies in energy production are yet to be adequately addressed to provide adhoc social changes and policy perspectives. To bridge these gaps, the present study investigates the relationship between energy innovation (EIN), renewable energy production (REP), non-renewable energy production (NREP), energy intensity (EI), research and development (R&D) expenditures, GDP, and ecological footprint (EF) in 21 OECD economies during the period 1990–2018. This study applies advanced, rigorous, and robust econometric methodologies. The empirical outcomes reveal that REP, EIN, and EI, mitigate EF, while NREP, GDP, and R&D somehow accelerate the ecological deficit. This study advances the empirically proven validity of the Environmental Kuznets Curve hypothesis for OECD countries and provides valuable policy insights in terms of intensification of governmental budget spending on R&D, and boosting technological energy innovations and non-polluting energy projects. Of particular importance to trace a green energy growth is the development of comprehensive economic and energy policies with a specific focus on ecological wellbeing. | ||
| 20 January | Antonio Salinas 📄 Presentation |
Diagnosis of the atmospheric conditions associated with the arrival of sargassum to the coasts of Quintana Roo, Mexico see more... |
| The massive arrival of sargassum is generating environmental, social, and economic impacts on the Mexican coasts of the Caribbean Sea. This seaweed is transported by floating across the Atlantic Ocean under the combined effects of wind and surface ocean circulation. A diagnosis of the variability of atmospheric circulations in the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea will be presented, identifying the conditions under which sargassum arrives on the coasts of Quintana Roo (Mexico), where the most popular tourist resort in the region is located: Cancun. Thirty years of surface wind data (1989 to 2018) from NCAR's CFRS (Climate Forecast System Reanalysis) over the Atlantic and Caribbean were analyzed, dividing the region into six areas. For each area, its seasonal, annual and interannual variability was estimated, as well as its extreme values and its correlation with the North Atlantic Oscillation index (NAO). According to the results, atmospheric conditions for transporting sargassum to the coasts of Quintana Roo coasts are more favorable in summer than in winter. Additionally, the 90th percentile of surface wind in the Caribbean Sea favors sargassum transport in both winter and summer, however, “connectivity” with other regions (the central Atlantic) makes sargassum transport more favorable in summer, highlighting the role of the Caribbean low-level jet, which has two relative maxima: the first in February and the second in July. As case studies, atmospheric conditions were analyzed for two years identified as extreme: 2015 and 2018, for both summer and winter. | ||
| 27 January | Dargan Frierson 📄 Presentation |
Past Perfect, Future Imperfect? Biases in Reduced Complexity Climate Models tuned to the historical record see more... |
| Some of the most important decisions about the future regarding climate and energy policy are decided on the basis of results from reduced complexity climate models (RCMs), which take emissions of pollutants and calculate global average temperature. RCMs are tuned from comprehensive Earth Systems Models (ESMs), but use very simple equations. They've also received relatively little scrutiny in the scientific literature. We study one particular RCM called "fair," which was used in recent IPCC reports to estimate the remaining carbon budget to keep warming under 1.5 or 2 C. Although fair is constrained to essentially exactly reproduce current CO2 concentrations, we show that it underestimates future CO2 concentrations significantly compared with the models to which it is tuned. We provide an explanation and discuss implications for RCM development and ESM experimental design. We additionally discuss how simple models can be used to allow students to simulate their own climate and energy futures, including those based in climate justice. | ||
| 03 February | Marco Reale 📄 Presentation |
From Convection-permitting coupled modeling to large scale circulation and carbon sink in the Mediterranean Sea: a small journey with a lot of great friends see more... |
| In this 30-40 minutes talk I will summarize the research that I carried out in the last two years in collaboration with colleagues (and friends) from OGS and ICTP In particular I will describe: 1. The development and testing of newly Convection-Permitting configuration of Regional Earth System Model RegCM-ES over the Northern Italy; 2. The analysis of link between SST variability in the Indian Ocean measured by the IOD index and synoptic activity over the Euro-Mediterranean region; 3. The Links between CO2 sink in the Mediterranean Sea in winter and synoptic systems crossing the area. | ||
| 10 February | Laurel DiSera 📄 Presentation |
Fueling the 2020-2023 La Niña: The Role of Cross-timescale Interference between the Indian Ocean Dipole and the Madden-Julian Oscillation see more... |
| Prior work suggests that the 2020-2023 three-year long La Niña event was triggered by the combination of a strong positive Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) event that began in 2019 and a strong Atlantic Niño; however, it is unclear what caused the positive IOD event. This analysis suggests that cross-timescale interference between the IOD and Madden Julian Oscillation (MJO) contributed to the generation of this positive IOD event, with interactions occurring in two stages. First, during late April 2019, strong winds associated with MJO phases 2 and 3, and the related formation of two twin tropical cyclones, produced downwelling Kelvin waves in the Indian Ocean that propagated to the western coast of Java and Sumatra and reflected to the west as downwelling Rossby waves, subsequently deepening the thermocline in the eastern basin, and impacting the IOD state. Subsequently, a second MJO phase 2 and 3 event created additional westward propagating downwelling Rossby waves that depressed the thermocline in the western basin, allowing for the progression of anomalous positive sea-surface temperature anomalies towards the west that triggered the strong positive IOD event. Based on these findings, and results from a linear wave model analysis, this study concludes that through cross-timescale interference, the MJO preconditioned the positive IOD state during the first MJO event and triggered the strong positive IOD event during the second MJO occurrence. These combined mechanisms acted as a catalyst contributing to the formation of the positive IOD event in 2019 that preceded the three-year long La Niña event. | ||
| 24 February | Mamadou Thiam 📄 Presentation |
Coupling SST-Surface wind and intraseasonal to seasonal variability in West African Monsoon System see more... |
| Summer rainfall in the Sahel is primarily generated by mesoscale convective systems that form over the eastern part of the continent and propagate westward, favored by the African Easterly Jet (AEJ). The moisture supply required for these precipitations is mainly provided in the lower troposphere by the monsoon flow, as well as by a westerly flux from the eastern Atlantic, which exhibits strong intraseasonal and longer-term variability. Although the large-scale influence of sea surface temperature (SST) on the West African monsoon has been widely studied through global teleconnections, the specific impact of the tropical North Atlantic on Sahelian rainfall remains insufficiently explored. In this study, we investigate air–sea interactions in the tropical North Atlantic at the intraseasonal timescale, focusing on the feedback between SST and surface winds. To this end, we use observational datasets (Reynolds SST, ASCAT winds) and ERA5 reanalysis data, applying linear statistical methods. Our results show that trade wind anomalies, often associated with African Easterly Waves, modulate SST and generate a negative feedback loop that persists for about two to three weeks. A secondary feedback induces a slow northward migration of SST and associated pressure anomalies. This mechanism likely influences the northward displacement of the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) and consequently affects intraseasonal to seasonal rainfall over the western Sahel. | ||
| 10 March | Luiza Vargas-Heinz | Soon see more... |
| Soon | ||
| 17 March | Riccardo Farneti | Soon see more... |
| Soon | ||
| 24 March | Valentina Blasone | Soon see more... |
| Soon | ||