The main aim of this activity is to assess the impact of climate variability and future scenarios on the spatial scales most relevant to humans and ecosystems. These scales are smaller than those considered by the actual global climate models. Modelling climate processes on regional scales at higher spatial resolution is then essential for projecting the impacts of climate change on society and natural resources. This is particularly necessary in regions characterized by complex coastlines and topography like the Mediterranean area.
The CLIM lab has a long-term experience in the application of regional atmospheric models for both the European and African regions, and of ocean circulation models for the Mediterranean Sea. The main objectives are the production of high resolution climate data for climate impact studies (hydrology, ecosystem modelling, energy production, agro-ecological systems) and the production of high resolution climate projections.
The CLIM lab developed one of the first coupled models available for the Mediterranean region, the PROTHEUS model, to support climate and climate impact studies at regional scale.
Med-ESM(Mediterranean - Earth System Model), is the latest version of the coupled system currently available at ENEA, making use of newly upgraded components, including a hydrological model for river routing and river discharge estimates.