Cameo - Climate and Meteorology, Modelling, and Earth Observation

The macroarea CAMEO (Climate and Meteorology, Modelling, and Earth Observation) focuses on understanding past and future global climate changes and the fundamental processes driving them. This includes climate variability, trends, and meteorological events across spatial and temporal scales through an integrated approach. Achieving these goals requires advanced observational tools and methodologies, integration of high-quality historical data, and a range of modeling tools, from conceptual models to state-of-the-art numerical weather prediction and Earth system models.

Climate Modeling and Variability

This activity enhances understanding of climate variability and change by producing future climate scenario simulations at global and regional scales, developing downscaling techniques, and creating specific products for Climate Services. It evaluates the impacts and risks of climate change, particularly for Italy and hotspot regions like mountain areas, the Mediterranean, and the Polar regions.This activity focuses on understanding climate variability and change, improving past reconstructions, producing global and regional projections, retrospective predictions from seasonal to decadal, and developing specific products for Climate Services. It evaluates the impacts and risks of climate change, particularly for Italy and hotspot regions like mountain areas, the Mediterranean, and the Polar regions.

Activities

Climate reconstructions, future scenarios, climate sensitivity, and predictability
Climate change impacts on the hydrological cycle, including extremes
Coupling and feedback of climate change with biosphere and ecosystems
Processes in climate dynamics, variability, and abrupt climate shifts (tipping points)
Dynamical and statistical/stochastic downscaling of climate simulations
Transport processes and physical-chemical interactions
Tropical-extratropical teleconnections and their variability as sources of seasonal to decadal predictability
Paleoclimate analysis and modeling
Climate monitoring in Italy
Overview of climate modeling activities
Description of the EC-Earth model

Meteorological Modeling

This activity develops numerical tools to accurately simulate atmospheric processes from planetary to turbulent scales, supporting applications in the field of meteorology, atmospheric composition, and dispersion. These tools are also available to external users and support societal needs such as energy planning, risk evaluation, and air quality assessments.

Activities

Atmospheric dynamics and turbulence
Mesoscale meteorology and modeling
Coupled meteorology-composition modeling
Atmospheric dispersion modeling
Microscale Modeling
Data assimilation and Predictability
Wind field analysis in coastal environments

GLOBO BOLAM MOLOCH Weather Forecasts CNR-ISAC

Earth Observations

Earth Observation (EO) technologies and methodologies improve understanding of atmospheric interactions and feedbacks in the upper and lower part of the troposphere and at the air/soil interface. Activities focus on the development and integration of EO techniques (satellite- and ground-based) for monitoring clouds, precipitation, wind, air-sea interaction processes, radiation, to study phenomena and processes related to the hydrological cycle, to analyse and monitor extreme events in the Mediterranean basin, and to study turbulent and dispersive dynamics of the atmospheric boundary layer and its impact on weather and climate.

Activities

Satellite meteorology and precipitation monitoring
Radar meteorology and disdrometers
Atmospheric electricity and multisensor techniques
Machine learning
Cloud and precipitation physics
Data assimilation and nowcasting
Photometry and solar radiation
Planetary boundary layer studies.

For remote sensing and in-situ facilities and instruments visit Observations

Atmospheric Circulation

This activity improves knowledge of atmospheric processes like turbulence, convection, and radiation through Earth Observations and modeling tools at different scales. It also analyzes mechanisms of formation, development, intensification and decay behind synoptic-scale and mesoscale phenomena such as extratropical, tropical, and tropical-like cyclones, and mesoscale convective systems and develops parameterization schemes for weather and climate models.

Activities

Theory and modelling of the planetary boundary layer
Instabilities and predictability
Techniques for extended-range forecasts

Grand Challenges

1) The Water Cycle in a Changing Climate

This research investigates changes in the water cycle, including precipitation quantification and regimes, atmospheric circulation, snow cover, glaciers, and water resources in a warming climate.

Methods

Modeling and observing water cycle processes at global and regional scales
Assessing tipping points and their impacts
Developing observational technologies for studying soil hydrology, clouds, precipitation, wind, and radiation

Research Topics

Cloud and precipitation physics
Hydrological cycle changes and drought monitoring
Data assimilation
Precipitation estimation, trends and regimes
Humidity transport by large-scale atmospheric circulations (Atmospheric rivers)
Water resource management

2) Climate and Weather Extremes

Understanding the mechanisms behind precipitation and temperature extremes in a changing climate is a priority. Research focuses on processes leading to extreme events, their prediction, and future projections.

Methods

High-resolution modeling and integrated prediction chains for the prediction, attribution and future projection of extreme events
Analysis of historical extreme events using reanalysis and instrumental data including series of daily temperatures and precipitation
Development of observational techniques integrated with modeling tools for reconstruction and analysis of the formation and development processes and for the characterization of extreme weather events in the Mediterranean basin

Research Topics

Mechanisms causing extreme events
Improving weather forecasting and climate projections
Reconstructing and analyzing historical series of extreme events
EO techniques for extremes monitoring and characterisation

3) Climate Change Hotspots

This research explores amplified impacts of global climate change in hotspots such as polar areas, mountains, the Mediterranean, and urban areas. Key topics include understanding processes, coupling and feedback mechanisms, predictability studies, elevation-dependent warming, polar amplification, and Mediterranean climate shifts.

Methods

Analysis of feedbacks and processes using observational datasets and models
Development of stochastic downscaling techniques
Development of EO methodologies and analysis of long-term observational datasets
Study of turbulent and dispersive dynamics of the atmospheric boundary layer and its impact in hot spot areas
Integration of observational and modeling techniques for hotspot areas

Research Topics

High-altitude hydrological cycle changes
Polar and Arctic amplification processes
Seasonal and decadal predictions in the Mediterranean
Turbulent dynamics of the atmospheric boundary layer

4) Towards Seamless Observation-Constrained Models

Efforts aim to develop meteorological and climate models with observationally-constrained processes/parameterizations. This seamless modeling framework enhances prediction accuracy across different scales and aims to reinforce the ISAC atmospheric modeling chain (Moloch/Bolam/Globo) by pursuing “seamless” development of predictions and modeling.

Methods

Development of new parameterizations for processes like PBL dynamics and land water cycles
Application of a “seamless” approach to ensure: (i) exploitation of the available observational constraints; (ii) design of parameterizations that can be seamlessly integrated at the different time and spatial scales
Integration of high-performance computing network and infrastructures for high-resolution simulations and for handling, processing and analysis of large volumes of climate and observational data