Special Climate Session: Five experts explain what's happening with the weather.

Extreme weather events may be here to stay. And the country will have to take measures to prepare for the new climate scenario, warned five researchers who participated in the Special Climate Session organized by the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon (Ciências ULisboa) on Monday. The videoconference brought together around 120 people, including experts who have been working with the Instituto Dom Luiz (IDL), but it quickly resonated in the national media, which, on Tuesday, noted some of the main warnings and recommendations from the Ciências ULisboa researchers. Alexandre Ramos, Carlos da Câmara, Gil Lemos, Pedro Matos Soares e Rita Cardoso were on the panel of experts.

You can review all the session here

“It’s an almost perfect combination (of factors) to have, at least in my memory, the longest series of storms in many years,” said Pedro Matos Soares, professor at Ciências ULisboa and researcher at IDL, quoted this Tuesday by Público.

The Special Climate Session was launched in open access mode with the aim of clarifying for the population the factors that led to the succession of storms in recent weeks. As expected, invited scientists did not fail to alert authorities to the need to review processes and move forward with measures.

Carlos da Câmara, professor at Ciências ULisboa and researcher at IDL, pointed out that part of the vulnerability to inclement weather lies in cultural reasons that lead to the continued construction of houses in floodplains, or to the lack of safer mechanisms for securing roof tiles.

"We are much more inclined to blame the minister of Home Affairs, the central government, the local authorities, and I say that the first thing to do is to address the issue of citizenship and responsibility in the face of extreme weather events, and we are still very far from what is desirable," said Carlos da Câmara, quoted by RTP Notícias.

The Special Climate Session also helped to dispel some preconceived ideas that are not always confirmed by reality. Rita Cardoso, a researcher at IDL, reiterated her confidence in climate models, as they are based on the laws of physics. Regarding the most recent meteorological events, the explanation referred to phenomena that are not even near the country. “We are experiencing storm after storm, and they are, in a way, trapped in the North Atlantic due to two high-pressure systems. One of them is centered in the United States of America and the other in Scandinavia and Central Europe,” explained the researcher.

In popular imagination, there is no shortage of theories pointing to the end of the four seasons, but Gil Lemos, professor at Ciências ULisboa and researcher at IDL, reveals a slightly different prediction, which maintains the year divided into four periods with the corresponding meteorological differences. "From the point of view of climate projections, we know that we will have a gradual increase in temperatures over the next few decades, but we also know that this increase will not be uniform throughout the year," says Gil Lemos.

Alexandre Ramos, a researcher at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany and a collaborator at IDL, brought to the debate a perspective that literally comes from the clouds. Lately, the Portuguese researcher has been studying atmospheric rivers aboard aircraft that collect data on these now-famous atmospheric rivers. Regarding the scientific missions that take him flying towards these atmospheric rivers, he says that "the only thing a person sees when flying over them is a fairly extensive layer of clouds."

“These aircraft have onboard instruments that allow us to study the state of the atmosphere, whether through in-situ or remote observations,” begins Alexandre Ramos, while also noting that the most recent scientific campaign in which he is participating aims to fill the gap in information about the initial conditions of atmospheric rivers in certain ocean regions, which end up inducing errors in climate models and weather forecasts. “One of the objectives of this project is to improve forecasting by sending more accurate initial predictions, for example, about atmospheric rivers, to the different centers that run forecasting models,” explained Alexandre Ramos.

The Special Climate Session in the press:

Portugal experienced one of the longest periods of storms on record - Público

A susceptible, vulnerable country lacking a risk culture - RTP Notícias

A susceptible, vulnerable country lacking a risk culture - 24 Notícias Online

Portugal is vulnerable to extreme events and lacks a risk culture - Barlavento Online

A susceptible, vulnerable country lacking a risk culture - Diário de Notícias da Madeira

Bad weather: a susceptible, vulnerable country lacking a risk culture, warns the specialist - Executive Digest

There is no end in sight for the storms at this time. But all indications are that these phenomena will become more frequent and severe - Green Savers

There is little awareness of this, but Portugal is a country susceptible to extreme weather events - AEIOU.pt Online - ZAP AEIOU Online