Climate change and precipitation in Mediterranean climates

A study suggests that in Mediterranean-like climates, the response of precipitation to climate warming is highly variable, with drying projected in the Mediterranean and Chile on a timescale faster than global-mean warming, and wetting projected in California that is delayed relative to global warming; the differences result from the existence of separate fast and slow sea-surface temperature responses to greenhouse gases that give rise to distinct regional changes in atmospheric circulation.

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Article #19-11015: “Time-evolving sea-surface warming patterns modulate the climate change response of subtropical precipitation over land,” by Giuseppe Zappa, Paulo Ceppi, and Theodore G. Shepherd.

MEDIA CONTACT: Giuseppe Zappa, Institute of Atmospheric Sciences And Climate, National Research Council of Italy, Bologna, ITALY; tel: +39-0516399608, +39-3516005771; e-mail:

[email protected]