Blue-Action Summer Newsletter 2020

 

Freshwater events have been followed by an extremely cold ocean surface in the subpolar North Atlantic in winter and major changes in large‐scale weather patterns, a new publication in Geophysical Research Letters shows.

Combining ocean and atmospheric data, Marilena Oltmanns et al. found that increased freshwater in the North Atlantic leads to shallower surface layers that adjust faster to the lower air temperature in fall and winter. The faster surface cooling increases the south‐north temperature gradient which promotes the development of storms. The storms, in turn, reinforce the cooling by modulating the surface flow.

Future freshwater discharges from Greenland and the Arctic are anticipated to amplify the cooling and trigger an enhanced wintertime storminess with far‐reaching implications for the climate.

 

Decadal predictability of North Atlantic blocking and the North Atlantic Oscillation
 

New decadal prediction experiments from NCAR are found to exhibit remarkable skill in reproducing the observed multi-annual variations of wintertime blocking frequency over the North Atlantic and of the North Atlantic Oscillation, in a new paper by Panos Athanasiadis et al. 

Atmospheric predictability has generally been found to be quite limited on multi-annual timescales. The new study, published in NPJ Climate and Atmospheric Science, uses a large ensemble size that allows the predictable component of the atmospheric variability to emerge from the background chaotic component.

Skilfully predicting the decadal fluctuations of blocking frequency and the NAO suggests that impactful climate anomalies may also be predictable with improved dynamical models.

 

Heat is now more lethal than cold for people in Spain
 

People with respiratory diseases in Spain are now more vulnerable to high temperatures than cold ones, a new study by Joan Ballester from Blue-Action and colleagues at the Barcelona Institute for Global Health has shown. This complete reversal of the seasonality of temperature-related mortality has implications for climate change health policy-making. 

The study, published in Nature Communications, analysed data from over 1.3 million deaths linked to respiratory disease in Spain between 1980-2016. The data show that mortality over the period in the warmer months were relatively stable, but there was a decline in deaths during the colder months of 16.5% per decade. The authors suggest that this could be due to adaptation of the population to lower temperatures, through measures such as more widespread heating of homes and effective treatment. 

Joan Ballester explained, “These observations reflect a remarkable process of adaptation to cold, but not to heat...Reducing this vulnerability may require policies associated with socioeconomic development, such as those aimed at improving health services.”

The demands on researchers to effectively share the outputs of research have never been higher. The need to translate and share complex scientific findings for a wide variety of audiences is incredibly important but can feel like a daunting task, particularly for climate scientists.

To support wider dissemination and engagement, Blue-Action is hosting a webinar series on science communication designed specifically for climate researchers, covering topics from designing infographics to engaging with policymakers. Each webinar is an introduction to the topic, and an opportunity to have a Q&A with an expert in the field.

Recordings of past webinars on "Designing public outreach activities" and "Talking to the media" can be found here, and you can sign up for the future webinars below here.

Recent events
 

Online opportunities
 

PhD position, University of Bergen

The PhD position aims to contribute to enhance climate prediction to the level where it benefits society, and thus facilitate the needed transition to operational forecasts. The position will be within the Bjerknes Climate Prediction Unit that focuses on predicting climate in the Atlantic-to-Arctic sector and surrounding continents from a season to a decade and beyond. For more details, please look here. 

Postdoc positions, IPSL

IPSL in France seek talented and imaginative scientists to carry out research on the global carbon cycle and climate-carbon interactions. They are advertising two post-doctoral positions within the Climate-Carbon Interactions in the Current Century project (4C, https://4c-carbon.eu). Both positions are 24-months long and located in central Paris, at the Institut Pierre Simon Laplace.

The 2 post-doctorate scientists at IPSL will focus on:
Post 1 – Carbon Cycle Prediction: The postdoc will evaluate predictability and predictions of ocean and land carbon sinks in a suite of dedicated experiments based on the IPSL Earth System Model. Please contact Juliette Mignot to get the full description of the vacancy (Juliette.Mignot@locean-ipsl.upmc.fr).

Post 2 – Emergent Constraint: The postdoc will devise new techniques to constrain future projections of climate-ocean feedbacks and the resulting impact on the ocean carbon cycle. Please contact Lester Kwiatkowski to get the full description of the vacancy (lester.kwiatkowski@lmd.ens.fr).