ORCID Profile
0000-0002-4223-5831
Current Organisations
European Severe Storms Laboratory - Science & Training
,
European Severe Storms Laboratory
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Publisher: Copernicus GmbH
Date: 06-07-2023
DOI: 10.5194/EMS2023-333
Abstract: A derecho is a widespread, long-lived, straight-line windstorm that is associated with a fast-moving group of severe thunderstorms known as a mesoscale convective system. During 18 August 2022, a highly intense and organized convective storm, classified as a derecho, developed over the western Mediterranean Sea affecting Corsica, northern Italy and Austria, with wind gusts up to 62 m/s and giant hail (~11 cm). There were 12 fatalities and 106 people injured. This event received much attention in the media for its extraordinary impact and the rareness over the Mediterranean Sea. The derecho developed over an extreme marine heatwave that persisted during the whole summer. Therefore, the hypothesis of a relationship between the extreme atmospheric event and the extreme marine heatwave rapidly arose, and thus, a possible link with anthropogenic climate change. This convective event can be considered as extreme from the affected locations point of view (in terms of winds) but also is between one of the most powerful derechos ever recorded in the USA and Europe. Also, the event developed over an extreme marine heatwave that was mainly affecting the western Mediterranean Sea during summer 2022. Here, by performing model simulations with both the NCAR Model for Prediction Across Scales and the M& #233 t& #233 o-France nonhydrostatic operational AROME model, we find a relationship between the marine heatwave, the actual anthropogenic climate change conditions, and the development of this extremely rare and severe convective event. We also find a future worrying increase in intensity, size and duration of such an event with future climate change conditions.
Publisher: American Meteorological Society
Date: 15-03-2019
Abstract: The climatology of (severe) thunderstorm days is investigated on a pan-European scale for the period of 1979–2017. For this purpose, sounding measurements, surface observations, lightning data from ZEUS (a European-wide lightning detection system) and European Cooperation for Lightning Detection (EUCLID), ERA-Interim, and severe weather reports are compared and their respective strengths and weaknesses are discussed. The research focuses on the annual cycles in thunderstorm activity and their spatial variability. According to all datasets thunderstorms are the most frequent in the central Mediterranean, the Alps, the Balkan Peninsula, and the Carpathians. Proxies for severe thunderstorm environments show similar patterns, but severe weather reports instead have their highest frequency over central Europe. Annual peak thunderstorm activity is in July and August over northern, eastern, and central Europe, contrasting with peaks in May and June over western and southeastern Europe. The Mediterranean, driven by the warm waters, has predominant activity in the fall (western part) and winter (eastern part) while the nearby Iberian Peninsula and eastern Turkey have peaks in April and May. Trend analysis of the mean annual number of days with thunderstorms since 1979 indicates an increase over the Alps and central, southeastern, and eastern Europe with a decrease over the southwest. Multiannual changes refer also to changes in the pattern of the annual cycle. Comparison of different data sources revealed that although lightning data provide the most objective s ling of thunderstorm activity, short operating periods and areas devoid of sensors limit their utility. In contrast, reanalysis complements these disadvantages to provide a longer climatology, but is prone to errors related to modeling thunderstorm occurrence and the numerical simulation itself.
Location: Austria
No related grants have been discovered for Pieter Groenemeijer.