Articles | Volume 7, issue 3
https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-7-1709-2026
© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-7-1709-2026
© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
07 Sep 2026
Research article |
| 07 Sep 2026
| 07 Sep 2026
Quantifying atmospheric and land drivers of hot temperature extremes through explainable Artificial Intelligence
Earth Sciences Department, Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC), Barcelona, Spain
Facultat de Física, Universitat de Barcelona, Diagonal 645, 08028 Barcelona, Spain
Lluís Palma
Earth Sciences Department, Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC), Barcelona, Spain
Facultat de Física, Universitat de Barcelona, Diagonal 645, 08028 Barcelona, Spain
Markus Donat
Earth Sciences Department, Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC), Barcelona, Spain
Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ICREA), Barcelona, Spain
Stefano Materia
Earth Sciences Department, Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC), Barcelona, Spain
CMCC Foundation–Euro–Mediterranean Center on Climate Change, Bologna, Italy
Bruna Gràvalos Talló
Earth Sciences Department, Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC), Barcelona, Spain
Raül Marcos Matamoros
Facultat de Física, Universitat de Barcelona, Diagonal 645, 08028 Barcelona, Spain
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This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Hydrology and Earth System Sciences (HESS).
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This study compares several gridded observation-based datasets of soil moisture, evapotranspiration, potential evapotranspiration, and air temperature during summer across Europe from 2003–2022. It shows that datasets differ in actual values and seasonal variations, but most datasets show coherent temporal variations and coupling relationships. However, timeseries differences found for some datasets also affect their representation of land-atmosphere coupling relationships.
Aude Carréric, Pablo Ortega, Roberto Bilbao, Carlos Delgado-Torres, Vladimir Lapin, Ferran Lopez-Marti, Markus Donat, and Francisco Doblas-Reyes
Earth Syst. Dynam., 17, 717–737, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-17-717-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-17-717-2026, 2026
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The paper assesses the impact of horizontal resolution of the EC-Earth climate model on its ability to predict El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO). The high-resolution simulations show better forecast skill linked to improved simulation of ENSO-related variability and ENSO teleconnections with the equatorial Atlantic. However, the remaining poor skill in the western Pacific highlights the importance of better understanding ENSO simulation errors and mean state biases to improve forecasts.
Montserrat Llasat-Botija, Raül Marcos-Matamoros, Maria Aguilera-Vidal, José Antonio Jimenez, and María Carmen Llasat
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-2070, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-2070, 2026
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Storm Gloria event of 19–25 January 2020 is considered as a paradigmatic compound flood event and affected Spanish Mediterranean coast with multiple recorded hazards (e.g. river and coastal floods). We have comprehensively analysed how these hazards occurred together and compared them with insured losses. The results show that the largest compensation values tend to occur where hazard levels are highest, although exposure, vulnerability, and insurance coverage modulate the final impacts.
Carlos Delgado-Torres, Markus G. Donat, Núria Pérez-Zanón, Verónica Torralba, Roberto Bilbao, Pierre-Antoine Bretonnière, Margarida Samsó-Cabré, Albert Soret, and Francisco J. Doblas-Reyes
Earth Syst. Dynam., 17, 41–56, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-17-41-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-17-41-2026, 2026
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Gerard Marcet-Carbonell, Markus G. Donat, and Carlos Delgado-Torres
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-6277, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-6277, 2026
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Alvise Aranyossy, Paolo De Luca, Carlos Delgado-Torres, Balakrishnan Solaraju-Murali, Margarida Samso Cabre, and Markus G. Donat
Earth Syst. Dynam., 16, 2225–2251, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-16-2225-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-16-2225-2025, 2025
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Alba Santos-Espeso, María Gonçalves Ageitos, Pablo Ortega, Carlos Pérez García-Pando, Markus G. Donat, Margarida Samso Cabré, and Saskia Loosveldt Tomas
Earth Syst. Dynam., 16, 2161–2186, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-16-2161-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-16-2161-2025, 2025
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Daniele Peano, Deborah Hemming, Christine Delire, Yuanchao Fan, Hanna Lee, Stefano Materia, Julia E. M. S. Nabel, Taejin Park, David Wårlind, Andy Wiltshire, and Sönke Zaehle
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Rashed Mahmood, Markus G. Donat, Roberto Bilbao, Pablo Ortega, Vladimir Lapin, Etienne Tourigny, and Francisco Doblas-Reyes
Earth Syst. Dynam., 16, 1923–1934, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-16-1923-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-16-1923-2025, 2025
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Juan C. Acosta Navarro, Alvise Aranyossy, Paolo De Luca, Markus G. Donat, Arthur Hrast Essenfelder, Rashed Mahmood, Andrea Toreti, and Danila Volpi
Earth Syst. Dynam., 16, 1723–1737, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-16-1723-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-16-1723-2025, 2025
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Pedro José Roldán-Gómez, Pablo Ortega, and Markus G. Donat
Ocean Sci., 21, 2283–2303, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-21-2283-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-21-2283-2025, 2025
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Pep Cos, Matias Olmo, Diego Campos, Raül Marcos-Matamoros, Lluís Palma, Ángel G. Muñoz, and Francisco J. Doblas-Reyes
Weather Clim. Dynam., 6, 609–626, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-6-609-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-6-609-2025, 2025
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Tuula Aalto, Aki Tsuruta, Jarmo Mäkelä, Jurek Müller, Maria Tenkanen, Eleanor Burke, Sarah Chadburn, Yao Gao, Vilma Mannisenaho, Thomas Kleinen, Hanna Lee, Antti Leppänen, Tiina Markkanen, Stefano Materia, Paul A. Miller, Daniele Peano, Olli Peltola, Benjamin Poulter, Maarit Raivonen, Marielle Saunois, David Wårlind, and Sönke Zaehle
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Pedro José Roldán-Gómez, Paolo De Luca, Raffaele Bernardello, and Markus G. Donat
Earth Syst. Dynam., 16, 1–27, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-16-1-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-16-1-2025, 2025
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Colin G. Jones, Fanny Adloff, Ben B. B. Booth, Peter M. Cox, Veronika Eyring, Pierre Friedlingstein, Katja Frieler, Helene T. Hewitt, Hazel A. Jeffery, Sylvie Joussaume, Torben Koenigk, Bryan N. Lawrence, Eleanor O'Rourke, Malcolm J. Roberts, Benjamin M. Sanderson, Roland Séférian, Samuel Somot, Pier Luigi Vidale, Detlef van Vuuren, Mario Acosta, Mats Bentsen, Raffaele Bernardello, Richard Betts, Ed Blockley, Julien Boé, Tom Bracegirdle, Pascale Braconnot, Victor Brovkin, Carlo Buontempo, Francisco Doblas-Reyes, Markus Donat, Italo Epicoco, Pete Falloon, Sandro Fiore, Thomas Frölicher, Neven S. Fučkar, Matthew J. Gidden, Helge F. Goessling, Rune Grand Graversen, Silvio Gualdi, José M. Gutiérrez, Tatiana Ilyina, Daniela Jacob, Chris D. Jones, Martin Juckes, Elizabeth Kendon, Erik Kjellström, Reto Knutti, Jason Lowe, Matthew Mizielinski, Paola Nassisi, Michael Obersteiner, Pierre Regnier, Romain Roehrig, David Salas y Mélia, Carl-Friedrich Schleussner, Michael Schulz, Enrico Scoccimarro, Laurent Terray, Hannes Thiemann, Richard A. Wood, Shuting Yang, and Sönke Zaehle
Earth Syst. Dynam., 15, 1319–1351, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-15-1319-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-15-1319-2024, 2024
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We propose a number of priority areas for the international climate research community to address over the coming decade. Advances in these areas will both increase our understanding of past and future Earth system change, including the societal and environmental impacts of this change, and deliver significantly improved scientific support to international climate policy, such as future IPCC assessments and the UNFCCC Global Stocktake.
María Carmen Llasat, Montserrat Llasat-Botija, Erika Pardo, Raül Marcos-Matamoros, and Marc Lemus-Canovas
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Elena Bianco, Doroteaciro Iovino, Simona Masina, Stefano Materia, and Paolo Ruggieri
The Cryosphere, 18, 2357–2379, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-2357-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-2357-2024, 2024
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Changes in ocean heat transport and surface heat fluxes in recent decades have altered the Arctic Ocean heat budget and caused warming of the upper ocean. Using two eddy-permitting ocean reanalyses, we show that this has important implications for sea ice variability. In the Arctic regional seas, upper-ocean heat content acts as an important precursor for sea ice anomalies on sub-seasonal timescales, and this link has strengthened since the 2000s.
Elsa Mohino, Paul-Arthur Monerie, Juliette Mignot, Moussa Diakhaté, Markus Donat, Christopher David Roberts, and Francisco Doblas-Reyes
Earth Syst. Dynam., 15, 15–40, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-15-15-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-15-15-2024, 2024
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The impact of the Atlantic multidecadal variability (AMV) on the rainfall distribution and timing of the West African monsoon is not well known. Analysing model output, we find that a positive AMV enhances the number of wet days, daily rainfall intensity, and extremes over the Sahel and tends to prolong the monsoon length through later demise. Heavy rainfall events increase all over the Sahel, while moderate ones only occur in the north. Model biases affect the skill in simulating AMV impact.
Dario Nicolì, Alessio Bellucci, Paolo Ruggieri, Panos J. Athanasiadis, Stefano Materia, Daniele Peano, Giusy Fedele, Riccardo Hénin, and Silvio Gualdi
Geosci. Model Dev., 16, 179–197, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-179-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-179-2023, 2023
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Decadal climate predictions, obtained by constraining the initial condition of a dynamical model through a truthful estimate of the observed climate state, provide an accurate assessment of the near-term climate and are useful for informing decision-makers on future climate-related risks. The predictive skill for key variables is assessed from the operational decadal prediction system compared with non-initialized historical simulations so as to quantify the added value of initialization.
Eva Sebok, Hans Jørgen Henriksen, Ernesto Pastén-Zapata, Peter Berg, Guillaume Thirel, Anthony Lemoine, Andrea Lira-Loarca, Christiana Photiadou, Rafael Pimentel, Paul Royer-Gaspard, Erik Kjellström, Jens Hesselbjerg Christensen, Jean Philippe Vidal, Philippe Lucas-Picher, Markus G. Donat, Giovanni Besio, María José Polo, Simon Stisen, Yvan Caballero, Ilias G. Pechlivanidis, Lars Troldborg, and Jens Christian Refsgaard
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 26, 5605–5625, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-5605-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-5605-2022, 2022
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Hydrological models projecting the impact of changing climate carry a lot of uncertainty. Thus, these models usually have a multitude of simulations using different future climate data. This study used the subjective opinion of experts to assess which climate and hydrological models are the most likely to correctly predict climate impacts, thereby easing the computational burden. The experts could select more likely hydrological models, while the climate models were deemed equally probable.
Rashed Mahmood, Markus G. Donat, Pablo Ortega, Francisco J. Doblas-Reyes, Carlos Delgado-Torres, Margarida Samsó, and Pierre-Antoine Bretonnière
Earth Syst. Dynam., 13, 1437–1450, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-13-1437-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-13-1437-2022, 2022
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Near-term climate change projections are strongly affected by the uncertainty from internal climate variability. Here we present a novel approach to reduce such uncertainty by constraining decadal-scale variability in the projections using observations. The constrained ensembles show significant added value over the unconstrained ensemble in predicting global climate 2 decades ahead. We also show the applicability of regional constraints for attributing predictability to certain ocean regions.
Josep Cos, Francisco Doblas-Reyes, Martin Jury, Raül Marcos, Pierre-Antoine Bretonnière, and Margarida Samsó
Earth Syst. Dynam., 13, 321–340, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-13-321-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-13-321-2022, 2022
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The Mediterranean has been identified as being more affected by climate change than other regions. We find that amplified warming during summer and annual precipitation declines are expected for the 21st century and that the magnitude of the changes will mainly depend on greenhouse gas emissions. By applying a method giving more importance to models with greater performance and independence, we find that the differences between the last two community modelling efforts are reduced in the region.
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Short summary
Explainable Artificial Intelligence was used to quantify and disentangle the role of the drivers of summer heat extremes at six sites in Europe and North Africa. Large-scale atmospheric circulation, especially mid-tropospheric geopotential, dominates, while soil drying amplifies heat in temperate and northern regions, and rising carbon dioxide contributes to long-term trends. Results were robust across data sources and help target climate risk and model improvements.
Explainable Artificial Intelligence was used to quantify and disentangle the role of the drivers...
