Università di Trento Per la serie Environmental Meteorology Seminar segnaliamo il seminario di Valerio Lembo (ISAC-CNR) dal titolo “Atmospheric meridional energy transports and the mid-latitudinal eddy-driven general circulation” organizzato dall’Università di Trento per giovedì 21 aprile 2022 alle 14:30. Il seminario, principalmente dedicato agli studenti del corso di Laurea Magistrale in Enviromental Meteorology, si terrà presso presso la Lecture Room 1P – DICAM Via Mesiano, 77 – Trento. Sarà possibile seguire l’evento online via zoom al link https://unitn.zoom.us/j/83219936705Meeting ID: 811 4936 3705Passcode: 533412 Atmospheric meridional energy transports and the mid-latitudinaleddy-driven general circulation Abstract Meridional energy transports are the primary consequence of the excess of radiative heat in the Tropics as opposed to the deficit in the polar regions. The atmospheric general circulation acts by balancing this contrast, on average transporting energy towards the Poles, and transforming the available potential energy determined by diabetic heating into kinetic energy and ultimately into frictional heating. In the mid-latitudes, the atmospheric circulation is featured by turbulent eddies at a wider range of temporal and spatial scales, and the meridional energy transport is associated with the development of baroclinic instability. Just like the weather systems, meridional energy transports in mid-latitudes occur in an intermittent and sporadic way, with a small number of extreme events carrying a huge amount of the overall energy transported across latitudes within a season. Here, meridional energy transports in NH mid-latitudes are investigated, as they are described in the ERA5 Reanalysis exercise, emphasizing the role of eddies at different zonal wavenumbers, and focusing on their role in characterizing transport extremes during wintry and summery seasons. We will see that the emergence of extremely strong transports is promoted by specific characteristic weather regimes, especially those related to co-located blocking patterns mediated by planetary-scale waves. Furthermore, we will see that planetary-scale waves occasionally contrast the baroclinic conversion of available potential into kinetic energy when the transport is extremely weak, eventually featuring a counter-gradient transport from the Poles towards the Equator. In a case study of extremely strong and persistent meridional energy transport during summer, we will also evidence the typicality of such extreme events, and the fact that they are consistent with the development of widespread heat waves across the Northern Hemisphere. Valerio Lembo Institute for Atmospheric Science and ClimateNational Research Council (ISAC-CNR) BioValerio is a researcher at the CNR Institute for Atmospheric Science andClimate in Bologna. He is interested in various aspects of climatedynamics, mainly those affected by and affecting energy budgets andtransports, and the interaction between heat and momentum. He developsmethods to diagnose the thermodynamics and the general circulation ofthe atmosphere, as a way to contribute bringing the basic principles ofphysics into the climate modeling debate. He uses methods fromstatistical mechanics and dynamical systems theory to explore theresponse of the climate system to external forcings, the role ofinternal variability and long-term predictability. Before joining ISACin 2020, he was a postdoc at the University of Hamburg. He received hisPhD in Ecology and Climate Change in 2016 from the University ofSalento, Lecce.
