MedCLIVAR-ESF Workshop on "Understanding the mechanisms responsible for the changes in the Mediterranean Sea circulation and sea-level trends"

29 September - 1 October, 2008

Hydrobiological Station and Aquarium of Rhodes Island of Rhodes, Greece

The workshop will focus on the changing status of the Mediterranean circulation and sea level and their link with climate change. Long term changes as well as abrupt changes will be discussed.

The workshop will present the state of the art of the large scale Mediterranean thermohaline circulation and its variability throughout both the instrumental and pre-instrumental record as well as its sea-level changes throughout the same periods.

The workshop is open to:

• Leading scientists
• New and upcoming scientists who have contributed in research on the objectives
• Scientists from North African States with interest in the subject
• PhD and postdoctoral students of topics related to those of the workshop

This workshop will act as a focusing point putting the existing studies in the context of climate variability, will identify the unresolved questions and discuss the strategy that must be followed to resolve them. The identification of unresolved issues and the development of observational and modelling strategies for their resolution will be the main outcome of the workshop. The presentations of the workshop will be collected into a volume. The synthesis of the workshop will be submitted for publication in an appropriate journal or newsletter.

An executive summary and a synthesis of the proposed strategies for monitoring and forecasting will be made available to monitoring programmes active in the Mediterranean. Keynote speakers: Damia Gomis, IMEDEA, Spain; Simon Josey, NOCS, UK; Paola Malanotte-Rizzoli, MIT, USA; Kostas Nittis, HCMR, Greece; Eelco Rohling, NOCS, UK; Samuel Somot, Meteo-France, France; Alexander Theocharis, HCMR, Greece; Vassilis Zervakis, University of Aegean, Greece.

Program outline:

• Session 1: The oceanic circulation of the Mediterranean Sea
• Session 2: The past of the Mediterranean oceanic circulation as revealed from pre-instrumental records
• Session 3: The forcing of the Mediterranean circulation
• Session 4: Variability of the Mediterranean oceanic circulation: Long term trends and abrupt events.
• Session 5: Sea level trends and variability
• Session 6: The future of the Mediterranean Sea
• Session 7: Monitoring strategies for the Mediterranean

Deadline for applications for support/participation: 15 June 2008

Applications and further information are available at:

http://www.medclivar.eu/workshop_3.html