Articles | Volume 26, issue 11
https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-26-5407-2026
© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-26-5407-2026
© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
30 Oct 2026
Research article |
| 30 Oct 2026
| 30 Oct 2026
The 2025 Mediterranean marine heatwaves through sea surface temperature analogues
Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement, UMR 8212 CEA-CNRS-UVSQ, Université Paris-Saclay & IPSL, CEA Saclay l'Orme des Merisiers, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France
London Mathematical Laboratory, 8 Margravine Gardens, London W6 8RH, UK
LMD/IPSL, ENS, Université PSL, École Polytechnique, Institut Polytechnique de Paris, Sorbonne Université, CNRS, Paris, France
Thibault Guinaldo
Météo-France, CNRS, Univ. Toulouse, CNRM, Toulouse, France
Francisco Pastor
Mediterranean Center for Environmental Studies (CEAM), Meteorology and Climatology Area, Valencia, Spain
Tommaso Alberti
Dipartimento Ambiente, Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, via di Vigna Murata 605, 00143, Rome, Italy
Samira Khodayar
Mediterranean Center for Environmental Studies (CEAM), Meteorology and Climatology Area, Valencia, Spain
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Davide Faranda, Gabriele Messori, Erika Coppola, Tommaso Alberti, Mathieu Vrac, Flavio Pons, Pascal Yiou, Marion Saint Lu, Andreia N. S. Hisi, Patrick Brockmann, Stavros Dafis, Gianmarco Mengaldo, and Robert Vautard
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Vera Melinda Galfi, Tommaso Alberti, Lesley De Cruz, Christian L. E. Franzke, and Valerio Lembo
Nonlin. Processes Geophys., 31, 185–193, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-31-185-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-31-185-2024, 2024
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In the online seminar series "Perspectives on climate sciences: from historical developments to future frontiers" (2020–2021), well-known and established scientists from several fields – including mathematics, physics, climate science and ecology – presented their perspectives on the evolution of climate science and on relevant scientific concepts. In this paper, we first give an overview of the content of the seminar series, and then we introduce the written contributions to this special issue.
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We analyse the duration of large-scale patterns of air movement in the atmosphere, referred to as persistence, and whether unusually persistent patterns favour warm-temperature extremes in Europe. We see no clear relationship between summertime heatwaves and unusually persistent patterns. This suggests that heatwaves do not necessarily require the continued flow of warm air over a region and that local effects could be important for their occurrence.
Thibault Guinaldo, Aurore Voldoire, Robin Waldman, Stéphane Saux Picart, and Hervé Roquet
Ocean Sci., 19, 629–647, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-19-629-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-19-629-2023, 2023
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In the summer of 2022, France experienced a series of unprecedented heatwaves. This study is the first to examine the response of sea surface temperatures to these events, using spatial operational data and attributing the observed abnormally warm SSTs to atmospheric forcings. The findings of this study underscore the critical need for an efficient and sustainable operational system to monitor alterations that threaten the oceans in the context of climate change.
Davide Faranda, Stella Bourdin, Mireia Ginesta, Meriem Krouma, Robin Noyelle, Flavio Pons, Pascal Yiou, and Gabriele Messori
Weather Clim. Dynam., 3, 1311–1340, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-3-1311-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-3-1311-2022, 2022
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We analyze the atmospheric circulation leading to impactful extreme events for the calendar year 2021 such as the Storm Filomena, Westphalia floods, Hurricane Ida and Medicane Apollo. For some of the events, we find that climate change has contributed to their occurrence or enhanced their intensity; for other events, we find that they are unprecedented. Our approach underscores the importance of considering changes in the atmospheric circulation when performing attribution studies.
Flavio Maria Emanuele Pons and Davide Faranda
Adv. Stat. Clim. Meteorol. Oceanogr., 8, 155–186, https://doi.org/10.5194/ascmo-8-155-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/ascmo-8-155-2022, 2022
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The objective motivating this study is the assessment of the impacts of winter climate extremes, which requires accurate simulation of snowfall. However, climate simulation models contain physical approximations, which result in biases that must be corrected using past data as a reference. We show how to exploit simulated temperature and precipitation to estimate snowfall from already bias-corrected variables, without requiring the elaboration of complex, multivariate bias adjustment techniques.
Miriam D'Errico, Flavio Pons, Pascal Yiou, Soulivanh Tao, Cesare Nardini, Frank Lunkeit, and Davide Faranda
Earth Syst. Dynam., 13, 961–992, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-13-961-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-13-961-2022, 2022
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Climate change is already affecting weather extremes. In a warming climate, we will expect the cold spells to decrease in frequency and intensity. Our analysis shows that the frequency of circulation patterns leading to snowy cold-spell events over Italy will not decrease under business-as-usual emission scenarios, although the associated events may not lead to cold conditions in the warmer scenarios.
Bérengère Dubrulle, François Daviaud, Davide Faranda, Louis Marié, and Brice Saint-Michel
Nonlin. Processes Geophys., 29, 17–35, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-29-17-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-29-17-2022, 2022
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Present climate models discuss climate change but show no sign of bifurcation in the future. Is this because there is none or because they are in essence too simplified to be able to capture them? To get elements of an answer, we ran a laboratory experiment and discovered that the answer is not so simple.
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Short summary
The Mediterranean Sea experienced a record-breaking heatwave in summer 2025. We compared this event to similar patterns from past decades to see how a warmer climate changed its strength. We found that today's warmer background added about 1.5 °C to the sea surface, making the heatwave far more intense and widespread. This shows how climate change is turning ordinary weather patterns into extreme events, with major impacts on marine life, coastal communities, and economies.
The Mediterranean Sea experienced a record-breaking heatwave in summer 2025. We compared this...
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