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Fire plays an important role in the complex physical interactions between the processes which define our planet's environments, and wildfires are considered to have a negative and unwanted effect, owing to the destruction of ecosystems and property that they often produce. In this paper, fractal and spectral methods are used to analyze the spatial characteristics of four wildfire scars of recent wildfires in the area of Greece. The fractal dimension, spatial noise and Hurst exponent of each of the chosen wildfire scar boundaries are calculated, and the results are discussed in connection to the real features of the wildfires. The results indicate that the fractal dimension can be used to adjust the fire line length by accounting for inherent roughness in the scar boundary, to define one of two types of propagation patterns that a wildfire exhibited, and to estimate the viability of plant recolonization in the wildfire area—furthermore, wildfire boundary spatial noise has been found to manifest similarities with pink noise, which is supported by the Hurst exponent analysis. The objective is to exemplify the effectiveness of such techniques for analyzing various characteristics of wildfire scars and active wildfires such as propagation patterns, fractality and spatial unpredictability, and for the qualitative determination of wildfire-related environmental factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change is expected to pose major challenges for olive cultivation in many Mediterranean countries. Predicting the development phases of olive trees is important for agronomic management purposes to foresee future climate impact and proactively act toward adaptation and mitigation strategies. In this study, a statistical model was developed based on winter chill accumulation and, in sequence, on heat accumulation to assess the changes in flowering occurrence for Olea europaea cv. Koroneiki, in the island of Crete, Greece. The model was based on and calibrated with long-term phenological observations and temperature data from four different sites in the island, spanning an elevation gradient between 45 and 624 m a.s.l. This model was used to assess the changes in flowering emergence under two Representative Concentration Pathway scenarios, RCP4.5 and RCP8.5, as projected by seven high-resolution Euro-CORDEX Regional Climate Models. Changes in chill accumulation were determined using the Dynamic Model. Reduction rates in chill accumulation for the whole chilling season ranged between 12.0 and 28.3% for the near future (2021–2060) and 22.7 and 70.9% for the far future (2061–2100), in comparison to the reference period of 1979–2019. Flowering was estimated to occur between 6 and 10 days earlier in the near future and between 12 and 26 days earlier in the far future, depending on the elevation and the climate change scenario. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We prove that certain Sobolev-type norms, slightly stronger than those given by energy conservation, stay bounded uniformly in time and N. This allows one to extend the local existence results of the second and third author globally in time. The proof is based on interaction Morawetz-type estimates and Strichartz estimates (including some new end-point results) for the equation { 1 i ∂ t − Δ x − Δ y + 1 N V N (x − y) } Λ (t , x , y) = F in mixed coordinates such as L p (d t) L q (d x) L 2 (d y) , L p (d t) L q (d y) L 2 (d x) , L p (d t) L q (d (x − y)) L 2 (d (x + y)). The main new technical ingredient is a dispersive estimate in mixed coordinates, which may be of interest in its own right. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We establish both a local and a global well-posedness theories for the nonlinear Hartree–Fock equations and its reduced analog in the setting of the modulation spaces on ℝ d. In addition, we prove similar results when a harmonic potential is added to the equations. In the process, we prove the boundedeness of certain multilinear operators on products of the modulation spaces which may be of independent interest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We prove local in time, uniform in N, estimates for the solutions , Λ, and Γ of a coupled system of Hartree–Fock–Bogoliubov type with interaction potential , with and v a Schwartz function (satisfying additional technical requirements). The initial conditions are general functions in a Sobolev-type space, and the expected correlations in Λ develop dynamically in time. As shown in our previous work, as well as the work of Chong (both in the case), using the conserved quantities of the system of equations, this type of local in time estimates can be extended globally. Also, they can be used to derive Fock space estimates for the approximation of the exact evolution of a Bosonic system by quasi-free states of the form. This will be addressed in detail in future work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Droughts are among the costliest natural disasters. They affect wide regions and large numbers of people worldwide by tampering with water availability and agricultural production. In this research, soil moisture drought trends are assessed for Europe using the Soil Moisture Index (SMI) estimated on Joint UK Land Environment Simulator simulations under two Representative Concentration Pathways, the RCP 2.6 and RCP 6.0 scenarios. Results show that SMI drought conditions are expected to exacerbate in Europe with substantial differences among regions. Eastern Europe and Mediterranean regions are found to be the most affected. Spatially and temporally contiguous regions that exhibit SMI of Severe and Extreme index categories are identified as distinct drought events and are assessed for their characteristics. It is shown that even under strong emissions mitigation, these events are expected to increase in occurrence (22% to 123%), while their characteristics will become more unfavorable. Results indicate increase in their spatial extend (between 23% and 46%) and their duration (between 16% and 48%) depending on the period and the scenario. Additional analysis was performed for the exceptionally wide-area (over 106 km2) severe and extreme soil moisture drought events that are expected to drastically increase comparing to the recent past. Projections show that those events are expected to happen between 11 and 28 times more frequently depending on the scenario and the period with a 59% to 246% larger duration. These findings indicate that even applying strong mitigation measures, agricultural drought risk in Europe is expected to become higher than our present experience. Graphical abstract Unlabelled Image Highlights • This study found indications about reduction in future soil moisture for Europe under RCP2.6 and RCP6.0. • It was found that drought events are expected to increase regardless the emission scenario. • Increase in European severe and extreme soil moisture drought events were projected. • Drastic increase in soil moisture droughts over 106 Km2 under RCP2.6 and RCP6.0. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summer tourism is one of the most important contributors to the European GDP especially for the southern countries and is highly dependent on the climatic conditions. Changes in average climatic conditions, along with the potential subsequent changes in the physical environment, will pose stress on the favorability of the climate of European destinations for tourism and recreational activities. Here, we study the vulnerability of summer-oriented tourism due to a global temperature increase by 2 °C relative to the preindustrial era. We use a well-defined framework of exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity indicators for a set of plausible climate (RCPs) and socioeconomic (SSPs) combinations. Our result shows that a 2 °C global warming will pose substantial changes to the vulnerability of the European tourism sector. Despite the general increase in exposure, the vulnerability of summer tourism is highly depended on the socioeconomic developments (SSPs). Although exposure is higher for most of the popular southern European destinations like Spain, France, South Italy, southernmost Greece, and Cyprus, they are expected to be less vulnerable than others, under specific SSPs, due to their higher capacity to adapt to a different climate. The capacity to adapt is lower for higher emission scenarios. Substantial changes are also apparent at the subnational level. Countries like France are foreseen to experience very diverse impacts and vulnerabilities within their own territories that will have consequences in terms of domestic tourism. The dynamics of these changes are expected to alter the state of the current European tourism regime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change and land use/cover (LULC) changes are considered as main agents of soil erosion by water. Hence, evaluating both the past and future trends in rainfall and LULC patterns is crucial to seek their multi-temporal impacts on the erosion. In this line, the main objective of the present study was to assess the past and project the future variabilities of water-induced soil erosion under changes in rainfall and LULC patterns for the Mediterranean island of Crete (Greece). They were based on the estimation of soil loss rate by the GIS-based empirical model of RUSLE, and referred to three past periods (1991–2000, 2001–2010 and 2011–2020) and four periods of near and far future (2021–2030, 2031–2040, 2041–2050 and 2051–2100) under three different climate change scenarios (RCP2.6, RCP4.5 and RCP8.5). The relevant dynamics of R and C-factors incorporated in RUSLE were determined by using rainfall multi-historical observations and future simulations for the former, and LULC outputs derived from satellite images and CA-Markov model for the latter. The RUSLE outputs showed a gradual increase of mean soil loss during the past periods as a result of continuously increasing rainfall erosivity and bare land extent. However, the generally decreased levels projected for them in the future are expected to lead to a subsequent decrease of mean soil loss. In all cases, the mountainous parts of Crete and especially in the west were found to be more affected by erosion. Compared to the more recent past period of 2011–2020, the future period of 2041–2050 was projected to be the most notable in terms of potential risk, indicating the only scenario of increase (+0.4) in mean soil loss as well as the highest coverage (a total of 8 %) by areas of high and extreme loss. The RCP8.5 and RCP2.6 were projected to be the most negative climate change scenarios for the near (until 2040) and far (2040 onwards) future, respectively, presenting the smallest decreases (about −16 % and −5 %, respectively) in mean soil loss. The study's findings can offer knowledge indispensable for future sustainable policy-making and spatial planning. • Past/future assessments/projections of water-induced soil erosion in a Mediterranean island. • Under the impacts of climate and land use/cover changes. • Both climate and LULC changes seem to have an impact on soil erosion over time. • Projected soil erosion risk varies depending on the future period and climate change scenario (RCP). • The study fills a gap in terms of spatial scale, analyzing high-quality input datasets at regional scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We consider a large number of Bosons with interaction potential. In our earlier papers (Grillakis et al. inComm. Math. Phys.(2010) and inAdv. Math.(2011), as well as Grillakis and Machedon inComm. Math. Phys., (2013)) we considered a set of equations for the condensateϕand pair excitation functionkand proved that they provide a Fock space approximation to the exact evolution of a coherent state for. In Grillakis and Machedon,J. Fixed Point Theory Appl., (2013), in the hope of treating higher values ofβ<1, we introduced a coupled refinement of our original equations. In that paper, we showed the coupled equations conserve the number of particles and energy. In the current paper, we prove that the coupled equations do indeed provide a Fock space approximation for, at least locally in time. In order to do that, we reformulate the coupled equations in a way reminiscent of BBGKY and apply harmonic analysis techniques in the spirit of those used by Chen and Holmer inJ. Euro. Math. Soc.(2016) to prove the necessary estimates. In turn, these estimates provide bounds for the pair excitation functionk. While our earlier papers provide background material, the methods of this paper paper are mostly new, and the presentation is self-contained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the understanding of the importance of the initial soil moisture state for flash flood magnitudes. Four extreme events that occurred in different case study regions were analysed, one winter and one autumn flash flood in the Giofiros and Almirida catchments in Crete, and two summer floods in the Rastenberg catchment in Austria. The hydrological processes were simulated by the spatially distributed flash flood model Kampus. For the Crete cases Kampus model was calibrated against remotely sensed soil moisture while for the Austrian case the model was calibrated against observed runoff. Kampus model was then used to estimate the sensitivity of the stream flow peak to initial soil moisture. The largest of the events analysed (in terms of specific peak discharge) was found to have a sensitivity of less than 0.2% flood peak change per % soil moisture change while the smallest event had a sensitivity of more than 3% flood peak change per % soil moisture change. This suggests that initial soil moisture effects on the flash flood response probably depend on event magnitude rather than on the climate or region. Moreover, the Austrian catchment was found to exhibit a more nonlinear relationship between antecedent soil moisture and the peak discharge than the Cretan catchments which was explained by differences in the soil type. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fifth phase of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5) is the most recent coordinated experiment of global climate modeling. Compared to its predecessor CMIP3, the fifth phase of the homonymous experiment-CMIP5 involves a greater number of GCMs, run at higher resolutions with more complex components. Here we use daily GCM data from both projects to test their efficiency in representing precipitation and temperature parameters with the use of a state of the art high resolution gridded global dataset for land areas and for the period 1960-2005. Two simple metrics, a comprehensive histogram similarity metric based on the match of simulated and observed empirical pdfs and a metric for the representation of the annual cycle were employed as performance indicators. The metrics were used to assess the skill of each GCM at the entire spectrum of precipitation and temperature pdfs but also for the upper and lower tails of it. Results are presented globally and regionally for 26 land regions that represent different climatic regimes, covering the total earth's land surface except for Antarctica. Compared to CMIP3, CMIP5 models perform better in simulating precipitation including relatively intense events and the fraction of wet days. For temperature the improvement is not as clear except for the upper and lower hot and cold events of the distribution. The agreement of model simulations is also considerably increased in CMIP5. Substantial improvement in intense precipitation is observed over North Europe, Central and Eastern North America and North East Europe. Nevertheless, in both ensembles some models clearly perform better than others from a histogram similarity point of view. The derived skill score metrics provide essential information for impact studies based on global or regional land area multi-model ensembles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate and weather patterns are an essential resource for outdoor tourism activities. The projected changes in climate and weather patterns are expected to affect the future state of tourism. The present study aims to quantify the positive or negative effect of a 2 °C global warming on summertime climate comfort in the sense of exercising activities that involve light body activity. The well-established Climate Index for Tourism (CIT) and three variants of the widely used Tourism Climatic Index (TCI) were analyzed. Additionally, a new index based on TCI and CIT was tested and compared against the precious indices. Past and future climate data of five high-resolution regional climate models (RCMs) from different Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP4.5 and RCP8.5) of the European Coordinated Regional Climate Downscaling Experiment (Euro-CORDEX) for a +2 °C period were used. The results indicate improvement in the climate comfort for the majority of European areas for the May to October period. For the June to August period, central and northern European areas are projected to improve, while marginal improvement is found for Mediterranean countries. Furthermore, in specific cases of adjacent Mediterranean areas such as the southern Iberian Peninsula, the June to August climate favorability is projected to reduce as a result of the increase to daytime temperature. The use of a set of different indices and different RCMs and RCPs samples a large fraction of the uncertainty that is crucial for providing robust regional impact information due to climate change. The analysis revealed the similarities and the differences in the magnitude of change across the different indices. Moreover, discrepancies were found in the results of different concentration pathways to the +2 °C global warming, with the RCP8.5 projecting more significant changes for some of the analyzed indices. The estimation of the TCI using different timescale climate data did not change the results on tourism significantly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bias correction of climate variables has become a standard practice in Climate Change Impact (CCI) studies. While various methodologies have been developed, their majority assumes that the statistical characteristics of the biases between the modeled data and the observations remain unchanged in time. However, it is well known that this assumption of stationarity cannot stand in the context of a climate. Here, a method to overcome the assumption of stationarity and its drawbacks is presented. The method is presented as a pre-post processing procedure that can potentially be applied with different bias correction methods. The methodology separates the stationary and the non-stationary components of a time series, in order to adjust the biases only for the former and preserve intact the signal of the later. The results show that the adoption of this method prevents the distortion and allows for the preservation of the originally modeled long-term signal in the mean, the standard deviation, but also the higher and lower percentiles of the climate variable. Daily temperature time series obtained from five Euro CORDEX RCM models are used to illustrate the improvements of this method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary Ensemble pan-European projections under a 2 °C global warming relative to the preindustrial period reveal a more intense warming in south Eastern Europe by up to +3 °C, thus indicating that impacts of climate change will be disproportionately high for certain regions. The Mediterranean is projected as one of the most vulnerable areas to climatic and anthropogenic changes with decreasing rainfall trends and a continuous gradual warming causing a progressive decline of average stream flow. Many Mediterranean regions are currently experiencing high to severe water stress induced by human and climate drivers. Changes in average climate conditions will increase this stress notably because of a 10–30% decline in freshwater resources. For small island states, where accessibility to freshwater resources is limited the impact will be more pronounced. Here we use a generalized cross-sectoral framework to assess the impact of climatic and socioeconomic futures on the water resources of an Eastern Mediterranean island. A set of representative regional climate models simulations from the EURO-CORDEX initiative driven by different RCP2.6, RCP4.5, and RCP8.5 GCMs are used to form a comparable set of results and a useful basis for the assessment of uncertainties related to impacts of 2° warming and above. A generalized framework of a cross-sectoral water resources analysis was developed in collaboration with the local water authority exploring and costing adaptation measures associated with a set of socioeconomic pathways (SSPs). Transient hydrological modeling was performed to describe the projected hydro-climatological regime and water availability for each warming level. The robust signal of less precipitation and higher temperatures that is projected by climate simulations results to a severe decrease of local water resources which can be mitigated by a number of actions. Awareness of the practical implications of plausible hydro-climatic and socio-economic scenarios in the not so distant future may be the key to shift perception and preference towards a more sustainable direction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In our previous work (Grillakis et al. in Commun Math Phys 294:273-301, ; Adv Math 228:1788-1815, ) we introduced a correction to the mean field approximation of interacting Bosons. This correction describes the evolution of pairs of particles that leave the condensate and subsequently evolve on a background formed by the condensate. In Grillakis et al. (Adv Math 228:1788-1815, ) we carried out the analysis assuming that the interactions are independent of the number of particles N. Here we consider the case of stronger interactions. We offer a new transparent derivation for the evolution of pair excitations. Indeed, we obtain a pair of linear equations describing their evolution. Furthermore, we obtain a priori estimates independent of the number of particles and use these to compare the exact with the approximate dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: This study is for the assessment of climate change impact on the future hydrology of Spencer Creek watershed located in Southern Ontario, Canada under the A2 scenario of the Special Report on Emissions Scenarios (SRES). The study is particularly concerned with changes in the climate variables and the seasonal and interannual flow regimes of the study area. The analysis also addresses the annual exceedance probability of extreme precipitation, temperature and flow events. Potential hydrologic effects of climate change were assessed for the Spencer Creek by imposing changes in precipitation and temperature derived from the North American Regional Climate Change Assessment Program (NARCCAP) climate simulations between 2040 and 2069. The climate models results were used as input to three hydrological models to produce projections of Spencer Creek watershed discharges. The results were compared to the observed discharges between 1989 and 2008. Notwithstanding the variability between the different regional climate model and hydrological model projections that envelop the future climate scenarios and the hydrological modeling uncertainties, all future simulations show an increase in the average interannual discharge, but also a noteworthy change in the seasonal distribution of the discharges. While the former is mainly attributed to the average annual precipitation, which tends to increase, the change in seasonal distribution of discharges is in line with the temperature increase of the winter and spring seasons that results in earlier snowmelt. Important changes were found in the annual exceedance probability (recurrence interval) of the extreme precipitation, temperature and runoff events. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: We study the evolution of an N-body weakly interacting system of Bosons. Our work forms an extension of our previous paper Grillakis, Machedon, and Margetis (2010) , in which we derived a second-order correction to a mean-field evolution law for coherent states in the presence of small interaction potential. Here, we remove the assumption of smallness of the interaction potential and prove global existence of solutions to the equation for the second-order correction. This implies an improved Fock-space estimate for our approximation of the N-body state. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

We present a unified approach for obtaining global a priori estimates for solutions of nonlinear defocusing Schrödinger equations with defocusing nonlinearities. The estimates are produced by contracting the local momentum conservation law with appropriate vector fields. The corresponding law is written for defocusing equations of tensored solutions. In particular, we obtain a new estimate in two dimensions. We bound the restricted $ L_t^4L_{\gamma}^4$ in $ \mathbb{R}^2$ [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inspired by the works of Rodnianski and Schlein [31] and Wu [34,35], we derive a new nonlinear Schrödinger equation that describes a second-order correction to the usual tensor product (mean-field) approximation for the Hamiltonian evolution of a many-particle system in Bose-Einstein condensation. We show that our new equation, if it has solutions with appropriate smoothness and decay properties, implies a new Fock space estimate. We also show that for an interaction potential $${v(x)= \epsilon \chi(x) |x|^{-1}}$$, where $${\epsilon}$$ is sufficiently small and $${\chi \in C_0^{\infty}}$$ even, our program can be easily implemented locally in time. We leave global in time issues, more singular potentials and sophisticated estimates for a subsequent part (Part II) of this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Climate change impact on vine phenology was estimated. • A phenology model was developed and validated for the Sultana grape cultivar. • Early grapevine development will be advanced, maturation stage will be extended. • The model is applicable to other Sultana growing regions with a similar climate. Climate change is expected to pose major challenges to viticulture. The projected increase in temperature in the Mediterranean region due to climate change is likely to influence the timing of grapevine phenological stages. This study developed and validated a phenological model, from budbreak to maturation phenological stages, based on the growing degree days for the Sultana grapevine cultivar on Crete Island, Greece, and used the model to assess potential changes in future phenology timing employing different climate change scenarios. A dataset of unpublished phenological observations from 20 locations spanning four decades was used to validate the phenological model. The root mean squared difference (RMSD) of the calibration-validation procedure was estimated between 5.4 and 11.5 days, depending on the phenological stage. The model outperformed for the flowering and maturity stages. The highest RMSD was found for the shoot development stages. Projections determined an earlier occurrence of the different phenological stages. Near future climate (2020–2060) projections indicate budbreak advancement by 7 to 8 days and maturity by 4 to 5 days on average. For the far future (2060–2100), the respective changes are 11 to 18 and 7 to 9 days earlier. Discussion on the underlying uncertainty sources is provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study the evolution of a many-particle system whose wave function obeys the N-body Schrödinger equation under Bose symmetry. The system Hamiltonian describes pairwise particle interactions in the absence of an external potential. We derive a priori dispersive estimates that express the overall repulsive nature of the particle interactions. These estimates hold for a wide class of two-body interaction potentials which are independent of the particle number, N. We discuss applications of these estimates to the BBGKY hierarchy for reduced density matrices analyzed by Elgart, Erdős, Schlein and Yau. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We consider the cubic defocusing Schrödinger equation in two space dimensions and prove that if the initial data are in H1/2, then there exists a global solution in time. The proof combines the argument from [5] with some new correlation estimates for the Schrödinger equation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We establish a local existence result for Dirac–Klein–Gordon equations in three space dimensions, employing a null form estimate and a fixed point argument. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies the Schroödinger type evolution of a map from a Riemannian manifold Μn with metric hαβ into a Riemann surface. Provision of a Lagrangian formulation for the problem; Derivation of a set of conservation laws; Achievement of localized energy type estimates.

[Display omitted] • Moderate injury in the parietal cortex leads to transient impairment in locomotion. • Parietal cortex injury causes subtle changes in gait. • Parietal cortex TBI leads to cortical tissue loss and striatum gliosis. Gait disruptions following traumatic brain injury (TBI) are noted in the clinical population. To date, thorough analysis of gait changes in animal models of TBI to allow for correlation of pathological alterations and utilization of this as a therapeutic outcome have been limited. We therefore assessed gait using the DigiGait analysis system as well as overall locomotion using the Beam Walk test in adult male Sprague-Dawley rats following a commonly used model of TBI, parietal lobe controlled cortical impact (CCI). Rats underwent DigiGait baseline analysis 24 h prior to injury, followed by a moderate CCI in the left parietal lobe. Performance on the DigiGait was then assessed at 1, 3, 7, and 14 days post-injury, followed by histological analysis of brain tissue. Beam walk analysis showed a transient but significant impairment acutely after injury. Despite observance of gait disturbance in the clinical population, TBI in the parietal lobe of rats resulted in limited alterations in hind or forelimb function. General hindlimb locomotion showed significant but transient impairment. Significant changes in gait were observed to last through the sub-acute period, including right hindpaw angle of rotation and left forelimb and right hindlimb swing phase duration. Slight changes that did not reach statistical significant but may reflect subtle impacts of TBI on gait were reflected in several other measures, such as stride duration, stance duration and stance width. These results demonstrate that moderate-severe injury to the parietal cortex and underlying structures including corpus callosum, hippocampus, thalamus and basal ganglia result in slight changes to gait that can be detected using the Digigait analysis system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Closed-head traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a worldwide concern with increasing prevalence and cost to society. Rotational acceleration is a primary mechanism in TBI that results from tissue strains that give rise to diffuse axonal injury. The Closed-Head Impact Model of Engineered Rotational Acceleration (CHIMERA) was recently introduced as a method for the study of impact acceleration effects in pre-clinical TBI research. This review provides a survey of the published literature implementing the CHIMERA device and describes pathological, imaging, neurophysiological, and behavioral findings. Findings show CHIMERA inflicts damage in white matter tracts as a key area of injury. Behaviorally, repeated studies have shown motor deficits and more chronic cognitive effects after CHIMERA injury. Good progress with model application has been accomplished by investigators attending to what is required for model validation. However, the majority of CHIMERA studies only utilize adult male mice. To further establish this model, more work with female animals and various age groups need to be performed, as well as studies to further establish and standardize methodologies for validation of the models for clinical relevance. Common data elements to standardize the reporting methodology for the CHIMERA literature are suggested. • CHIMERA provides a clinically important rotational acceleration model for brain injuries in mice, and, and ferrets. • There have been 19 published papers; primarily using adult male mice with two 0.5 Joule impacts separated by 24 h. • CHIMERA studies report robust changes, including motor and cognitive deficits and diffuse axonal injury. • Further analyses that include females and different aged animals are needed. • We outline parameters to standardize the model, including common data elements for reporting results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soil erosion constitutes an increasing thread for soil productivity and food security. Projected changes in Eastern Mediterranean rainfall regime show less but more intense rainfall events that are expected to affect the soil erosion processes. Research on the field has shown that the accurate estimation of rainfall erosivity dependents on the temporal resolution of rainfall data. Nonetheless, the scarcity of high frequency rainfall recordings, leads to the development of methodologies exploiting lower frequency data. This work aims to fill the gap of a rainfall erosivity formula that exploits the daily timescale rainfall data for the island of Crete at Eastern Mediterranean. An unprecedented daily and a sub-hourly rainfall station networks were used to calibrate and validate the formula. The calibrated formula is used along with the future climate projections, to estimate the potential future changes rainfall erosivity under three climate scenarios. Results for the future projections show moderate changes in the rainfall erosivity in the near future for all the assessed scenarios, with the Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) 2.6 to project the largest change with increased erosivity. Even larger and of different direction are the changes projected for the far future and especially for the RCP2.6 and RCP8.5, with the former to show further increase while the latter a significant decrease in the rainfall erosivity. Attribution analysis shows that those changes are driven by the combination of the reduction in the number of the erosive events with a simultaneous increase in the events' intensity in all cases, but of different magnitudes which define the final sign of change in the rainfall erosivity. Finally, this study provides evidence that rainfall erosivity in Crete is higher comparing to previous studies' findings, yet, close to literature values that focus on the central and Eastern Mediterranean region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main objective of this study was to explore the impact of various spectral indices on the performance of change vector analysis (CVA) for detecting the land cover changes on the island of Crete, Greece, between the last two decades (1999–2009 and 2009–2019). A set of such indices, namely, normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), soil adjusted vegetation index (SAVI), albedo, bare soil index (BSI), tasseled cap greenness (TCG), and tasseled cap brightness (TCB), representing both the vegetation and soil conditions of the study area, were estimated on Landsat satellite images captured in 1999, 2009, and 2019. Change vector analysis was then applied for five different index combinations resulting to the relative change outputs. The evaluation of these outputs was performed towards detailed land cover maps produced by supervised classification of the aforementioned images. The results from the two examined periods revealed that the five index combinations provided promising performance results in terms of kappa index (with a range of 0.60–0.69) and overall accuracy (with a range of 0.86–0.96). Moreover, among the different combinations, the use of NDVI and albedo were found to provide superior results against the other combinations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the seasonal forecasting to have advanced in the last decade, it is already able to provide valuable information to management authorities to better anticipate water- and climate-related risks in the near future and improved preparedness. Water resources recharge and water consumption in Mediterranean exhibit a highly seasonal pattern region due to the precipitation occurring mainly in winter while the peak consumption to occur in the summer [1, 2]. Additionally, the steep orography of Crete island make weather forecast an even more difficult task. Here, two operational seasonal forecast systems' data, the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) System 4 and Met Office GloSea5 systems are tested for their ability to estimate the streamflow drought in a Mediterranean basin on the island of Crete. Both systems' data are downscaled and corrected for biases towards the observations. Different types of precipitation and temperature data pre-processing are tested and compared [3]. The two systems' data are forced to the calibrated HYPE hydrological model for the case study watershed [4]. Runoff results are assessed for their forecast skill to predict the streamflow drought state comparing to historical streamflow drought events. Results indicate that both ECMWF System 4 and GLOSEA 5 systems exhibit considerable ability to forecast the streamflow drought state with probably GloSea5 to exhibit a slightly better skill. [1] A. G. Koutroulis, M. G. Grillakis, I. N. Daliakopoulos, I. K. Tsanis, and D. Jacob, "Cross sectoral impacts on water availability at +2°C and +3°C for east Mediterranean island states: The case of Crete," J. Hydrol., vol. 532, pp. 16–28, Jan. 2016.[2] A. G. Koutroulis, M. G. Grillakis, I. K. Tsanis, and D. Jacob, "Exploring the ability of current climate information to facilitate local climate services for the water sector," Earth Perspect., vol. 2, no. 1, p. 6, Nov. 2015.[3] Grillakis, M.G., Koutroulis, A.G., Daliakopoulos, I.N. and Tsanis, I.K., 2017. A method to preserve trends in quantile mapping bias correction of climate modeled temperature. Earth System Dynamics, 8(3), pp.889-900.[4] Grillakis, M., Koutroulis, A. and Tsanis, I., 2018. Improving Seasonal Forecasts for Basin Scale Hydrological Applications. Water, 10(11), p.1593. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Global sustainability is intertwined with freshwater security. Emerging changes in global freshwater availability have been recently detected as a combined result of human interventions, natural variability and climate change. Expected future socio-economic and climatic changes will further impact freshwater resources. The quantification of the impacts is challenging due to the complexity of interdependencies between physical and socio-economic systems. This study demonstrates a vulnerability based assessment of global freshwater availability through a conceptual framework, considering transient hydro-climatic impacts of crossing specific warming levels (1.5 °C, 2 °C and 4 °C) and related socio-economic developments under high-end climate change (RCP8.5). We use high resolution climate scenarios and a global land surface model to develop indicators of exposure for 25,000 watersheds. We also exploit spatially explicit datasets to describe a range of adaptation options through sensitivity and adaptive capacity indicators according to the Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs). The combined dynamics of climate and socio-economic changes suggest that although there is important potential for adaptation to reduce freshwater vulnerability, climate change risks cannot be totally and uniformly eliminated. In many regions, socio-economic developments will have greater impact on water availability compared to climate induced changes. The number of people under increased freshwater vulnerability varies substantially depending on the level of global warming and the degree of socio-economic developments, from almost 1 billion people at 4 °C and SSP5 to almost 3 billion people at 4 °C and SSP3. Generally, it is concluded that larger adaptation efforts are required to address the risks associated with higher levels of warming of 4 °C compared to the lower levels of 1.5 °C or 2 °C. The watershed scale and country level aggregated results of this study can provide a valuable resource for decision makers to plan for climate change adaptation and mitigation actions. Highlights • Substantial impacts are avoided at 1.5 °C and 2 °C compared to 4 °C-SSP3. • New projections suggest reduced water stress for northern regions. • The opposite is foreseen for subtropical regions but with large range of responses. • Socioeconomic changes may have greater impact on water availability than climatic. • Larger adaptation efforts are required to address higher end climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As freshwater availability is crucial for securing a sustainable, lower‑carbon future, there is a critical connection between water management and climate policies. Under a rapidly changing climate, it is more important than ever to estimate the degree of future water security. This is a challenging task as it depends on many different variables: the degree of warming and its consequent effects on hydrological resources, the water demand by different sectors, and the possible ameliorations or deteriorations of the effects due to climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies. A simple and transparent conceptual framework has been developed to assess the European vulnerability to freshwater stress under the present hydro-climatic and socioeconomic conditions, in comparison to projections of future vulnerability for different degrees of global warming (1.5 °C, 2 °C and 4 °C), under the high-rate warming scenario (RCP8.5). Different levels of adaptation to climate change are considered in the framework, by employing various relevant pathways of socioeconomic development. A spatially detailed pan-European map of vulnerability to freshwater shortage has been developed at the local administrative level, making this approach extremely useful for supporting regional level policymaking and implementation and strategic planning against future freshwater stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Models of quantum computing rely on transformations of the states of a quantum memory. We study mathematical aspects of a model proposed by Wu in which the memory state is changed via the scattering of incoming particles. This operation causes the memory content to deviate from a pure state, i.e. induces impurity. For nonrelativistic particles scattered from a two-state memory and sufficiently general interaction potentials in (1+1) dimensions, we express impurity in terms of quaternionic commutators. In this context, pure memory states correspond to null hyperbolic quaternions. In the case with point interactions, the scattering process amounts to appropriate rotations of quaternions in the frequency domain. Our work complements previous analyses by Margetis and Myers (2006 J. Phys. A 39 11567). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We prove global well-posedness for low regularity data for the L2-critical defocusing nonlinear Schrödinger equation (NLS) in 2D. More precisely, we show that a global solution exists for initial data in the Sobolev space Hs(ℝ2) and any s>25. This improves the previous result of Fang and Grillakis where global well-posedness was established for any s≥12. We use the I-method to take advantage of the conservation laws of the equation. The new ingredient is an interaction Morawetz estimate similar to one that has been used to obtain global well-posedness and scattering for the cubic NLS in 3D. The derivation of the estimate in our case is technical since the smoothed out version of the solution Iu introduces error terms in the interaction Morawetz inequality. A by-product of the method is that the Hs norm of the solution obeys polynomial-in-time bounds. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Summary: Three Global Climate Models (GCMs) output (precipitation and temperature), bias corrected with the WATCH Forcing Data (WFD), for the A2 and B1 scenarios, are used for drought assessment at a basin scale. At a first step, the hydrological model IHMS-HBV was calibrated using both local and large scale forcing data (precipitation and temperature) aiming to assess the suitability of large scale forcing data in a small basin, Platis, located in Crete, for the period 1974–1999. The second step includes the forcing of the WFD calibrated HBV model with the bias corrected GCM output from 2001 to 2100 (WATCH Driving Data). The produced hydrological variables, flow, soil moisture and lower groundwater reservoir volume were used for the hydrological regime assessment and drought identification with the aid of the threshold level method. A quantitative comparison with four future sub-periods was carried out addressing the drought events number, duration and deficit volume. Simulations of both emission scenarios indicate a significant decrease in all hydrological parameters. The relative change of drought characteristics for the future periods in terms of the three-model ensemble implied severe drought conditions. For A2 scenario, it was found that the number of drought events could increase up to 98%, 109% and 81% in flow, soil moisture and groundwater respectively. B1 scenario provided more conservative estimates, with an increase of drought events number up to 56%, 92% and 34% in flow, soil moisture and groundwater, respectively. The drought duration difference between scenarios reaches up to 33%, 89% and 34% for simulated flow, soil moisture and groundwater respectively till 2100. Moderate changes can be noticed in drought deficit volume with an estimated maximum increase of 19%, 33% and 22% in flow, soil moisture and groundwater involving A2 scenario, whereas B1 scenario projected 10%, 2% and 26% maximum increase for the former parameters. The evolution of the hydrological parameters is in line with the projected decreasing precipitation and increasing temperature trends. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The consequences of forceful rotational acceleration on the central nervous system are not fully understood. While traumatic brain injury (TBI) research primarily has focused on effects related to the brain parenchyma, reports of traumatic meningeal enhancement in TBI patients may possess clinical significance. The objective of this study was to evaluate the meninges and brain for changes in dynamic contrast enhancement (DCE) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) following closed-head impact model of engineered rotational acceleration (CHIMERA)–induced cerebral insult. Adult male and female mice received one (1 × ; n = 19 CHIMERA, n = 19 Sham) or four (4 × one/day; n = 18 CHIMERA, n = 12 Sham) injuries. Each animal underwent three MRI scans: 1 week before injury, immediately after the final injury, and 1 week post-injury. Compared with baseline readings and measures in sham animals, meningeal DCE in males was increased after single impact and repetitive injury. In female mice, DCE was elevated relative to their baseline level after a single impact. One week after CHIMERA, the meningeal enhancement returned to below baseline for single injured male mice, but compared with uninjured mice remained elevated in both sexes in the multiple impact groups. Pre-DCE meningeal T2-weighted relaxation time was increased only after 1 × CHIMERA in injured mice. Since vision is impaired after CHIMERA, visual pathway regions were analyzed through imaging and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) histology. Initial DCE in the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) and superior colliculus (SC) and T2 increases in the optic tract (OPT) and LGN were observed after injury with decreases in DCE and T2 1 week later. Astrogliosis was apparent in the OPT and SC with increased GFAP staining 7 days post-injury. To our knowledge, this is the first study to examine meningeal integrity after CHIMERA in both male and female rodents. DCE-MRI may serve as a useful approach for pre-clinical models of meningeal injury that will enable further evaluation of the underlying mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global water models (GWMs) simulate the terrestrial water cycle on the global scale and are used to assess the impacts of climate change on freshwater systems. GWMs are developed within different modelling frameworks and consider different underlying hydrological processes, leading to varied model structures. Furthermore, the equations used to describe various processes take different forms and are generally accessible only from within the individual model codes. These factors have hindered a holistic and detailed understanding of how different models operate, yet such an understanding is crucial for explaining the results of model evaluation studies, understanding inter-model differences in their simulations, and identifying areas for future model development. This study provides a comprehensive overview of how 16 state-of-the-art GWMs are designed. We analyse water storage compartments, water flows, and human water use sectors included in models that provide simulations for the Inter-Sectoral Impact Model Intercomparison Project phase 2b (ISIMIP2b). We develop a standard writing style for the model equations to enhance model intercomparison, improvement, and communication. In this study, WaterGAP2 used the highest number of water storage compartments, 11, and CWatM used 10 compartments. Six models used six compartments, while four models (DBH, JULES-W1, Mac-PDM.20, and VIC) used the lowest number, three compartments. WaterGAP2 simulates five human water use sectors, while four models (CLM4.5, CLM5.0, LPJmL, and MPI-HM) simulate only water for the irrigation sector. We conclude that, even though hydrological processes are often based on similar equations for various processes, in the end these equations have been adjusted or models have used different values for specific parameters or specific variables. The similarities and differences found among the models analysed in this study are expected to enable us to reduce the uncertainty in multi-model ensembles, improve existing hydrological processes, and integrate new processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under the continuously changing conditions of the environment, the exploration of spatial variability of soil erosion at a sub-annual temporal resolution, as well as the identification of high-soil loss time periods and areas, are crucial for implementing mitigation and land management interventions. The main objective of this study was to estimate the monthly and seasonal soil loss rates by water-induced soil erosion in Greek island of Crete for two recent hydrologically contrasting years, 2016 (dry) and 2019 (wet), as a result of Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) modeling. The impact of temporal variability of the two dynamic RUSLE factors, namely rainfall erosivity (R) and cover management (C), was explored by using rainfall and remotely sensed vegetation data time-series of high temporal resolution. Soil, topographical, and land use/cover data were exploited to represent the other three static RUSLE factors, namely soil erodibility (K), slope length and steepness (LS) and support practice (P). The estimated rates were mapped presenting the spatio-temporal distribution of soil loss for the study area on a both intra-annual and inter-annual basis. The identification of high-loss months/seasons and areas in the island was achieved by these maps. Autumn (about 35 t ha−1) with October (about 61 t ha−1) in 2016, and winter (about 96 t ha−1) with February (146 t ha−1) in 2019 presented the highest mean soil loss rates on a seasonal and monthly, respectively, basis. Summer (0.22–0.25 t ha−1), with its including months, showed the lowest rates in both examined years. The intense monthly fluctuations of R-factor were found to be more influential on water-induced soil erosion than the more stabilized tendency of C-factor. In both years, olive groves in terms of agricultural land use and Chania prefecture in terms of administrative division, were detected as the most prone spatial units to erosion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anthropogenic climate change is expected to affect global river flow. Here, we analyze time series of low, mean, and high river flows from 7250 observatories around the world covering the years 1971 to 2010. We identify spatially complex trend patterns, where some regions are drying and others are wetting consistently across low, mean, and high flows. Trends computed from state-of-the-art model simulations are consistent with the observations only if radiative forcing that accounts for anthropogenic climate change is considered. Simulated effects of water and land management do not suffice to reproduce the observed trend pattern. Thus, the analysis provides clear evidence for the role of externally forced climate change as a causal driver of recent trends in mean and extreme river flow at the global scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global water models (GWMs) simulate the terrestrial water cycle, on the global scale, and are used to assess the impacts of climate change on freshwater systems. GWMs are developed within different modeling frameworks and consider different underlying hydrological processes, leading to varied model structures. Furthermore, the equations used to describe various processes take different forms and are generally accessible only from within the individual model codes. These factors have hindered a holistic and detailed understanding of how different models operate, yet such an understanding is crucial for explaining the results of model evaluation studies, understanding inter-model differences in their simulations, and identifying areas for future model development. This study provides a comprehensive overview of how state-of-the-art GWMs are designed. We analyze water storage compartments, water flows, and human water use sectors included in 16 GWMs that provide simulations for the Inter-Sectoral Impact Model Intercomparison Project phase 2b (ISIMIP2b). We develop a standard writing style for the model equations to further enhance model improvement, intercomparison, and communication. In this study, WaterGAP2 used the highest number of water storage compartments, 11, and CWatM used 10 compartments. Seven models used six compartments, while three models (JULES-W1, Mac-PDM.20, and VIC) used the lowest number, three compartments. WaterGAP2 simulates five human water use sectors, while four models (CLM4.5, CLM5.0, LPJmL, and MPI-HM) simulate only water used by humans for the irrigation sector. We conclude that even though hydrologic processes are often based on similar equations, in the end, these equations have been adjusted or have used different values for specific parameters or specific variables. Our results highlight that the predictive uncertainty of GWMs can be reduced through improvements of the existing hydrologic processes, implementation of new processes in the models, and high-quality input data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global Water Models (GWMs), which include Global Hydrological, Land Surface, and Dynamic Global Vegetation Models, present valuable tools for quantifying climate change impacts on hydrological processes in the data scarce high latitudes. Here we performed a systematic model performance evaluation in six major Pan-Arctic watersheds for different hydrological indicators (monthly and seasonal discharge, extremes, trends (or lack of), and snow water equivalent (SWE)) via a novel Aggregated Performance Index (API) that is based on commonly used statistical evaluation metrics. The machine learning Boruta feature selection algorithm was used to evaluate the explanatory power of the API attributes. Our results show that the majority of the nine GWMs included in the study exhibit considerable difficulties in realistically representing Pan-Arctic hydrological processes. Average APIdischarge (monthly and seasonal discharge) over nine GWMs is > 50% only in the Kolyma basin (55%), as low as 30% in the Yukon basin and averaged over all watersheds APIdischarge is 43%. WATERGAP2 and MATSIRO present the highest (APIdischarge > 55%) while ORCHIDEE and JULES-W1 the lowest (APIdischarge ≤ 25%) performing GWMs over all watersheds. For the high and low flows, average APIextreme is 35% and 26%, respectively, and over six GWMs APISWE is 57%. The Boruta algorithm suggests that using different observation-based climate data sets does not influence the total score of the APIs in all watersheds. Ultimately, only satisfactory to good performing GWMs that effectively represent cold-region hydrological processes (including snow-related processes, permafrost) should be included in multi-model climate change impact assessments in Pan-Arctic watersheds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is strong evidence to suggest a link between repeated head trauma and cognitive and emotional disorders, and Repetitive concussive brain injuries (rCBI) may also be a risk factor for depression and anxiety disorders. Animal models of brain injury afford the opportunity for controlled study of the effects of injury on functional outcomes. In this study, male and cycling female C57BL/6J mice sustained rCBI (3x) at 24-hr intervals and were tested in a context and cued fear conditioning paradigm, open field (OF), elevated zero maze and tail suspension test. All mice with rCBI showed less freezing behavior than sham control mice during the fear conditioning context test. Injured male, but not female mice also froze less in response to the auditory cue (tone). Injured mice were hyperactive in an OF environment and spent more time in the open quadrants of the elevated zero maze, suggesting decreased anxiety, but there were no differences between injured mice and sham-controls in depressive-like activity on the tail suspension test. Pathologically, injured mice showed increased astrogliosis in the injured cortex and white matter tracts (optic tracts and corpus callosum). There were no changes in the number of parvalbumin-positive interneurons in the cortex or amygdala, but injured male mice had fewer parvalbumin-positive neurons in the hippocampus. Parvalbumin-reactive interneurons of the hippocampus have been previously demonstrated to be involved in hippocampal-cortical interactions required for memory consolidation, and it is possible memory changes in the fear-conditioning paradigm following rCBI are the result of more subtle imbalances in excitation and inhibition both within the amygdala and hippocampus, and between more widespread brain regions that are injured following a diffuse brain injury. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Crete is a Mediterranean, karst-dominated island, characterized by long drought periods. The Karst-SWAT model, combined with 11 climate change scenarios, was run to assess climate change impacts on the island under two set-ups, both using the auto-irrigation function of the model: (1) with water drawn from the shallow or deep aquifer, and (2) with irrigated water derived from an unlimited outside source. The first set-up provided insight into the fluctuation of future irrigation needs, and when compared to the second set-up, enabled quantification of the future water deficit. The Water Exploitation Index was used to describe the spatial variability of future water stress on Crete. A decrease in both surface and karstic spring flows is foreseen, especially after 2060 (24.2 and 16.5%, respectively). Simulated irrigation water demand and water deficit show continuous increase throughout the projection period (2020–2098). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Flood early warning systems play a more substantial role in risk mitigation than ever before. Hydrological forecasts, which are an essential part of these systems, are used to trigger action against floods around the world. This research presents an evaluation framework, where the skills of the Global Flood Awareness System (GloFAS) are assessed in Peru for the years 2009–2015. Simulated GloFAS discharges are compared against observed ones for 10 river gauges. Forecasts skills are assessed from two perspectives: (i) by calculating verification scores at every river section against simulated discharges and (ii) by comparing the flood signals against reported events. On average, river sections with higher discharges and larger upstream areas perform better. Raw forecasts provide correct flood signals for 82% of the reported floods, but exhibit low verification scores. Post-processing of raw forecasts improves most verification scores, but reduces the percentage of the correctly forecasted reported events to 65%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Solar power is the third major renewable energy, constituting an increasingly important component of global future--low carbon--energy portfolio. Accurate climate information is essential for the conditions of solar energy production, maximization, and stable regulation and planning. Climate change impacts on energy output projections are thus of crucial importance. In this study the effect of projected changes in irradiance and temperature on the performance of photovoltaic systems in Greece is examined. Climate projections were obtained from 5 regional climate models (RCMs) under the A1B emissions scenario, for two future periods. The RCM data present systematic errors against observed values, resulting in the need of bias adjustment. The projected change in photovoltaic energy output was then estimated, considering changes in temperature and insolation. The spatiotemporal analysis indicates significant increase in mean annual temperature (up to 3.5°C) and mean total radiation (up to 5 W/m²) by 2100. The performance of photovoltaic systems exhibits a negative linear dependence on the projected temperature increase which is outweighed by the expected increase of total radiation resulting in an up to 4% increase in energy output. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Droughts can have strong environmental and socio-economic impacts in the Mediterranean region, in particular for countries relying on rain-fed agricultural production, but also in areas in which irrigation plays an important role and in which natural vegetation has been modified or is subject to water stress. The purpose of this review is to provide an assessment of the complexity of the drought phenomenon in the Mediterranean region and present various perspectives on drought in the present and under future climate change scenarios. The projections of various model experiments on future climate change scenarios strongly agree on an increased frequency and severity of droughts in the Mediterranean basin. Nevertheless, given the complexity of the phenomenon, with different types of droughts and complex interrelated impacts, significant future uncertainties remain. For example, uncertainties are stronger for hydrological droughts than meteorological droughts due to human influences and water withdrawal. Significant drought impacts are expected in the future, in particular for developing countries in the southern and eastern parts of the Mediterranean basin. To improve the resilience and adaptive capacities of societies and environments faced with drought, we aim to provide an overview of the key issues in research on climate change impacts on droughts, with a specific focus on the Mediterranean region, in order to: i) redefine more meaningful drought metrics tailored to the Mediterranean context, ii) better take into account vegetation and its feedback on droughts, iii) improve the modelling and forecasting of drought events through remote sensing and land surface models, and iv) promote a more integrated vision of droughts taking into account both water availability and water use. This overview reflects the complexity of the problem and the need to combine scientific research with adaptation solutions to deal with drought in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multi-model ensembles have become a standard tool for assessing global climate change impacts. Interpretation of such ensembles is complicated because each model group has a different modeling concept and framework. For example, global scale land surface, water and vegetation models have been widely applied to understand the complex hydrological cycle of the Earth and to assess associated past and future changes. Additionally to this purpose, land surface models assess energy and biogeochemical cycles while vegetation models assess vegetation and carbon cycles. Therefore, all these models differ with respect to the specific processes of the hydrological cycle included in their structure. In this study, we demonstrate how the similarities and differences between models can be better understood and illustrated by using a standard representation of the main model features. We analyze twelve models from the global water sector of the Inter-Sectoral Impact Model Intercomparison Project (ISIMIP) phase 2b: six land surface models (LSMs), five global hydrological models (GHMs) and one dynamic global vegetation model (DGVM). The majority of the models are run with a daily temporal resolution and with a spatial resolution of 0.5°. Part of these models include a reservoir scheme and water use sectors. The heuristic mappings of the models are designed to ensure the opportunity to choose a model at the initial stage of the analysis, based on the most important qualities, relationships and characteristics, which provide users with significant time saving. Therefore, the review study will provide the basis for: (i) achieving further model (inter)comparison; (ii) selecting the right model(s) output(s) for specific applications; and (iii) assessing the similarities and differences among the models. The models characteristics will be presented in three levels of complexity allowing to reach a large audience. The target audience includes the modeling community, the stakeholder community, and the general public interested in understanding large-scale models, simulating climate change and its impacts. Additionally, stakeholder insights, gathered mostly in Eastern Europe and West Africa, have been considered in the study design. Stakeholders were identified according to their need for climate-impact information provided within the ISIMIP framework and included academics, government officials, employees working in international organizations, NGOs, consultancies, and private companies. In conclusion, the presentation describes the study approach and preliminary results, with particular emphasis on the standard model diagram, differences between the models, and the stakeholder engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]