The National Aerospace Meteorology and Climatology Centre (CNMCA) has organised the 5th edition of the “5+5 Defence Initiative” Workshop”
On the 21st and 22nd of November in Rome, at the Aviator's House, the 5th edition of the Workshop entitled “Defence Activities In The Mediterranean Sea: How The Climate Change Can Affect The Aero-Naval Operations And The Way To Adapt To The Extreme Weather Scenarios” took place.
The workshop falls within the framework of the Initiative's activities 5+5 Defence, a cooperation agreement signed by the Defence General Staff in 1990 and consolidated in 2004. Among the countries bordering the Mediterranean, delegations took part from: Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco for the southern shore of the Mediterranean, together with Italy, France, Spain and Portugal for the northern shore of the basin. For Italy, in addition to the speakers from the’Italian Air Force all coming from CNMCA, with the contribution of Dr Paola Mercogliano of the Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change (CMCC) and Dr. Marcello Mario Miglietta of the Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate of the National Research Council (ISAC-CNR).
At this year’s Workshop, as part of the themes of climate and meteorology, emphasis was placed on how climate change can affect naval and aviation operations and how to adapt to extreme weather scenarios, with particular regard to safety and prevention.
The meeting, which began with a brief welcome from Col. Attilio Di Diodato, Director of the National Centre for Meteorology and Climatology (CNMCA), continued with a series of discussions on phenomena known as Mediterranean Hurricanes, also called Medicane, increasingly frequent extreme weather events in the Mediterranean, to the study of risk analysis on coastal airports and ports, which are increasingly vulnerable to phenomena such as sea level rise and storm surges.
During the first day of proceedings, the Brigadier General also spoke Pier Francesco Coppola Deputy Head of the General Office for Military Aviation and Meteorology of the Air Staff (AVIAMM), who underlined the high significance of the meeting and the importance of cooperation between the countries of the Mediterranean, also keeping in mind the recent extreme weather event that hit the city of Valencia in Spain.
The discussion points on the presentations given by the participants touched upon defence activities in the Mediterranean Sea and how climate change can influence naval-air operations and methods for adapting to extreme weather scenarios, the impact of climate change in the Atlantic Ocean, the Canary Islands area and North-West Africa, and a climatological study on the variation of upper-air turbulence in the European area using reanalysis data was also presented.
Following this, the other studies presented focused in particular on the trends of the main atmospheric parameters for metocean conditions, highlighting their impact within the geopolitical context of the area and the possible repercussions for both the military and civilian spheres. Finally, extensive space was dedicated to products supporting air-naval operations, precipitation events and the use of the latest satellite platforms for observing and identifying the different types of atmospheric disturbances typical of the Mediterranean.
On the final day of the workshop, Brigadier General gave a welcoming address Luca Baione, Permanent Representative for Italy to the’World Meteorological Organization.
The workshop proved, once again, to be a high-level technical and scientific forum for dialogue in which to share specific knowledge on climate change and extreme events, strengthening cooperation between Western Mediterranean countries, including as input for industry since future weapon systems and infrastructure will need to take account of climate change and the intensification of the marine weather phenomena associated with it.
It National Centre for Aerospace Meteorology and Climatology (CNMCA), it reports to the 9th ISTAR-EW Air Brigade. Based in Pratica di Mare, it ensures meteorological support for multiple organisations in both the military and civil sectors.
The Centre seamlessly provides meteorological support to the assets of the Armed Forces, Defence, and the NATO and of the’European Union wherever employed, both nationally and in theatre of operations, whilst simultaneously guaranteeing meteorological services for air navigation in support of Operational and General Air Traffic. In this regard, the Centre holds Aeronautical Meteorological Watch Office (MWO) competencies for the Milan, Rome and Brindisi Flight Information Regions (FIRs), for which it issues the necessary flight safety messages.
