Project description
Modelling Antarctic extreme weather and temperature spikes
Predicting global sea level rise requires understanding the dynamics of extreme weather events triggering polar melting and ice sheet instability. To forecast their evolution in a warming world, we must analyse their simulation in climate models, which struggle with small-scale processes in Antarctic storms and upstream tropical convection. Supported by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, the MAADE project will use machine learning to detect atmospheric rivers in high-resolution models. This will help track their development around Antarctica, identify key model parameters for simulating heat extremes, and ultimately improve predictions of future Antarctic extreme weather patterns and their potential role as a tipping point for ice sheet stability.
Objective
During March 2022, an unprecedented heatwave caused by an atmospheric river (AR) occurred in East Antarctica that led to the largest observed temperature anomaly observed globally. This event signaled the grave risk of a similar event occurring during summer over the more vulnerable ice shelves of West Antarctica and triggering ice sheet destabilization, thus accelerating global sea level rise. Many of the elements that made the March 2022 heatwave so extreme occur on relatively small spatial scales that are often poorly represented in climate models which all leads to an underappreciation of the risk that polar extreme weather poses. To address this gap, the latest generation of high-resolution climate models can help identify which small-scale dynamical processes are most connected to polar heat extremes.
Here, I propose to apply a machine-learning based AR detection algorithm to two high-resolution, convection-permitting Earth system models (IFS and ICON) and a regional climate model (ICOLMDZ-LAM) to study the small-scale dynamical processes related to the diabatic processes found in ARs while identifying the relevant model parameters needed for properly simulating the subsequent response in blocking and heat extremes around Antarctica. Then we will compare future climate simulations from these models to examine changes in Antarctic extreme weather behavior. With the expertise of the research supervisor, Benjamin Pohl, this study will assess how the explicit resolution of tropical convection within climate models translates to the depiction of heat extremes in Antarctica. Working alongside model developers at the LSCE, this work will inform future improvements in simulating polar extreme weather in the ICOLMDZ model. The project represents the beginning of a longer term research plan to assess whether polar extreme weather can act as a tipping point for ice sheet stability while helping me secure a tenured research position and create a research team.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
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CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- natural sciences earth and related environmental sciences atmospheric sciences meteorology atmospheric circulation
- natural sciences computer and information sciences software software applications simulation software
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Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
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Call for proposal
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(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2025-PF
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75794 Paris
France
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