The National Centre for Meteorology and Aerospace Climatology (CNMCA) has organised a Workshop with delegations from Tunisia, Algeria, Libya and Morocco, France and Spain for a discussion on meteorology supporting Aero-Naval Operations in the Mediterranean basin.
From 30 November to 1-2 December, the workshop titled “..." took place in Rome.“On Climate Change and Extreme Weather Events: Support for Aero-Naval Operations in the Mediterranean Basin“, organised by National Centre for Aerospace Meteorology and Climatology (CNMCA) on behalf of the Air Force Staff, which was attended by delegations from Tunisia, Algeria, Libya and Morocco, for the southern shore of the Mediterranean basin, and France and Spain for the northern shore.
The workshop is part of the activities of’5+5 Defence Initiativecollaboration agreement established in 1990 and consolidated in 2004, between the countries bordering the Western Mediterranean.
This agreement has defined forms of collaboration in various sectors, including defence and the environment. The Workshop was dedicated to the themes of climate and meteorology, whose dynamics are closely related to security and prevention.
Over the years, the 5+5 initiative has proven particularly effective in addressing security and defence cooperation between Member States facing common challenges. It aims to strengthen and promote practical activities in the areas of Maritime Surveillance, Air Security, the contribution of Armed Forces to Civil Protection, and Training and Research. Specifically, each year, activities are approved within this framework by the respective Ministries of Defence. These activities aim to increase mutual understanding, share strategies for preventing and combating common threats, and promote interoperability between the Armed Forces of the different Member States.
The contracts were opened by Colonel Luca Graniero, Deputy Head of the 4th Meteorology Office of the General Office of Military Aviation and Meteorology of the Air Force Staff (AVIAMM), with a welcome address, followed by a brief presentation of the event and the capabilities of the Air Force's Meteorological Service.
Following this, the programme of interventions began, in which, through the analysis of ongoing climate change in the Mediterranean region and its impact on the area's geopolitical context, possible repercussions for the military and civilian world were highlighted. During the meeting, it was shown how the air temperature trend for recent decades has remained substantially similar across the entire area, as has the increase in sea temperature, factors that have an impact on the development of convective systems and, therefore, also on intense events at sea and on coastal areas.
Ample space has been dedicated to products supporting aero-naval operations in the Mediterranean, as well as to rainfall weather events and the use of satellite platforms for observing and identifying different types of atmospheric disturbances affecting the Mediterranean area.
Tools useful for the identification and prediction of intense and extreme events, such as satellite platforms and the LAMPINET network, a national high-resolution network for lightning detection, have also been examined. In this regard, the future effectiveness of the new Third Generation Meteorological Satellites (MTG) has been demonstrated, including towards African regions, with tools from which an improvement in the ability to detect and characterise the real-time electrical activity of cloud masses is expected.
Last but not least, phenomena that put coastal communities at risk were discussed, such as volcanic eruptions and related volcanic ash emissions, coastal and immediate inland flooding, and the monitoring and prediction of the impacts of solar dynamics on technological systems used by the Defence was presented. This is a capability recently acquired by the Air Force Meteorological Service, without neglecting the intervention on the activities carried out by the A.M. Mountain Centre (CAMM) at Monte Cimone, which was particularly appreciated by participants.
The works have concluded Brigadier General Luca Baione, Head of the General Office for Military Aviation and Meteorology and the Permanent Representative of Italy to the World Meteorological Organisation, underlining the fundamental values that cement collaborative activity within the 5+5 forum. “Among these values, training is particularly important, for which the AM has its own capability for personnel from Meteorological Service of the Air Force. Furthermore, this capability is made available to allies and partners, with the possibility of designing “ad hoc” courses based on the specific needs of users.”
In conclusion, the Workshop provided a forum for dialogue of high technical value, where specific knowledge on climate change and extreme events was shared to strengthen and foster collaboration among the countries of the Western Mediterranean.
The National Centre for Aerospace Meteorology and Climatology (CNMCA), based in Pratica di Mare, provides meteorological support to many organisations in both military and civilian spheres. The Centre continuously provides meteorological support to Armed Forces, Defence, NATO and European Union assets wherever they are deployed, both nationally and in operational theatres, while simultaneously guaranteeing meteorological services for Air Navigation for Operational and General Air Traffic. In this regard, the Centre has the competence of Aeronautical Meteorological Watch Office (MWO) over the Flight Information Regions (FIRs) of Rome and Brindisi, for which it issues the necessary flight safety messages.
