poration, ΔS is the soil storage variation and R is the cumulated total runoff. Therefore, river discharge can be easily calculated by spatially integrating the simulated time mean total runoff field over distinct catchment basins. Such a simple approach is allowed only when climatic scales are concerned as the relevant variables can be derived as long term means of those computed for forecast purposes.
IRIS is based on the Total Runoff Integrated Pathway (TRIP) dataset, which maps information on land water flow directions onto a 0.5°x0.5° regular global grid.
The above figure shows the results of the hind-cast run. The blue line is the modelled seasonal cycle from the runoff fields of the hind-cast run of the Protheus coupled model, forced with the ERA-40 reanalysis , years 1958-1997. For comparison, we also show the observed climatology for the same years (red line), computed from river discharge time series. Only in the case of the Danube river the plotted climatology refers to the period 1958-1984, for which observations are available.
Designing adaptation strategies requires a fundamental understanding of regional climate change and its impact on productive sectors. The main objectives of our research is the applications of weather-driven physiologically based demographic models (PBDMs) used to analyze a major Mediterranean crop-pest system, namely olive (Olea europaea) and the olive fruit fly (Bactrocera oleae) (Center for the Analysis of Sustainable Agro-ecological Systems).
The Mediterranean Basin is expected to be particularly vulnerable to climate change including pronounced climate warming and desertification. The tight co-evolution links of drought-resistant olive and its major pest the olive fly, and their wide distribution makes the system a suitable model for climate change studies.
Figure. Olive yield (kg dry matter tree-1) in the Mediterranean Basin: average (a, b) and standard deviation (c, d) for the period 1958-1967 and 1988-1997.
The West African Monsoon is a climatological feature of major social importance to populations whose economy relies on agriculture. Therefore, understanding its dynamics, variability at various timescale and evolution contribute toward food security and stability of the region.
The monsoon is a large-scale circulation characterized by a seasonal reversal of winds due primarily to the land-sea temperature contrast. Within this circulation is embedded a number of rainfall producing systems such as African Easterly Waves (AEWs), squall lines and tropospheric jets: African Easterly Jet (AEJ) centered approximately at 600 hPa and the Tropical Easterly Jet (TEJ) centered at about 200 hPa. The intensity of these systems and their latitudinal location influence not only the amount of rainfall but also its variability over West Africa.
Our research aims to understand the intraseasonal and the interannual variability of rainfall and the related atmospheric circulation over West Africa and to evaluate our capability to correctly reproduce them.
Figure. Averaged 1989-2005 Precipitation (in mm/day and shaded) from CRU (Upper Panels), GPCP Superimposed are ERAIM Wind Vectors at 925 hPa (Middle Panels) and RegCM3 Superimposed its 925 hPa Wind Field (Lower Panels) on DJF (Left) and JJA (Right)