PhD: A Mediterranean Sea in the middle of unprecedented climate change

About the project

The Mediterranean Sea is a climate change hotspot, implicated in the dramatic warming and drying of regional climate. This project will link changes in surface Mediterranean waters to increasingly extreme weather, to shifts in the character and flows of underlying salty waters, and to far-reaching influences on the North Atlantic. 

Through summer of 2023, countries around the Mediterranean were subject to extreme heatwaves followed by extreme rainfall and floods. The unprecedented events of 2023 followed upward trends in surface warming and evaporation over recent decades, raising sea surface temperatures and salinities (SST and SSS) across the region with sometimes dramatic consequences. Around Cyprus, surface waters reach high salinity through excessive evaporation in the Levantine basin, preconditioning the formation of Levantine Intermediate Water (LIW), which eventually departs the Mediterranean through the Straits of Gibraltar as part of an ‘overturning’ circulation – the Mediterranean Zonal Overturning Circulation (MZOC). Exported to the North Atlantic, this high-salinity water is consequential for the large-scale circulation of that ocean. Associating MZOC streamlines with temperature and salinity, we can align this circulation, and variability thereof, with ongoing marked changes in the regional hydrological cycle and air-sea heat exchange. Three leading questions are:  

1. To what extent are weather extremes in the Mediterranean region attributable to rising SST and evaporation rates?  
2. How do weather extremes impact sea surface conditions, water mass formation and hence the MZOC?  
3. How might changes in SSS, Med Water and the MZOC impact the wider North Atlantic?

Befitting its name, the Mediterranean Sea occupies the middle of a coupled climate system, connected to the wider ocean circulation and a fragile regional climate system  The project will provide insight as to how we expect future changes in Mediterranean Sea will affect both regional weather and the wider ocean circulation in the Atlantic.

Supervisory team

The supervisory team includes supervisors from several organisations, including our INSPIRE Partners. Please contact the Lead Supervisor for more information about the team.

Training

The INSPIRE DTP programme provides comprehensive personal and professional development training alongside extensive opportunities for students to expand their multi-disciplinary outlook through interactions with a wide network of academic, research and industrial/policy partners. The student will be registered at the University of Southampton and hosted at the University of Southampton/SOES.

Specific training will include: 

• experience with a range of programming languages (Python, Matlab, Ferret) to access and analyse a diverse range of data (satellite-derived and in-situ observational databases
• regional and sub-regional operational ocean forecasts/re-analyses
• high-resolution coupled climate model historical simulations and future projections), to evaluate variability and links between properties and overturning circulation
• use of Lagrangian diagnostic tools to trace surface, intermediate and deep waters

The student will present research findings at major national/international conferences. They may have opportunities to work with regional partners to develop systems for monitoring water properties and flows in the eastern Mediterranean

Potential supervisors

Lead supervisor

Dr Nikolaos Skliris

Senior Research Fellow

Research interests

• Water cycle change inferred from ocean salinity
• Mediterranean Sea climate variability & change   (Overturning Circulation, Sea Level, Water Cycle, …)
• Impacts of ocean physics on marine ecosystems 

Supervisors

KG

Dr Kathy Gunn PhD

Lecturer in Climate Sciences

Professor Robert Marsh

Professor of Oceanography and Climate

Entry requirements

At least 1 of the following:

• A UK BSc or MSci 2:1 honours degree, or its international equivalent
• A UK MSc or MRes master’s degree with Merit or Distinction (over 60%)
• Evidence of significant and relevant professional experience, equivalent to master’s level

And, if English is not your first language, at least 1 of the following:

• IELTS overall score: 6.5
• TOEFL overall score: 92 (Band C)

Fees and funding

INSPIRE studentships are funded by the Natural Environmental Research Council (NERC). The stipend is in line with UKRI stipend levels.

All studentships are fully funded for 3.5 years.

Both UK and non-UK candidates are eligible to apply.

How to apply

Apply now

Applications should include:

• your CV (resumé)
• 2 reference letters
• degree transcripts to date, translated to English if applicable
• IELTS or TOEFL certificate, if applicable

Contact us

Faculty of Environmental and Life Sciences

If you have a general question, please contact our doctoral college:

• Email:  fels-pgr-apply@soton.ac.uk
• Phone: +44 (0) 23 8212 6521

Project information

For an initial conversation about the project, please contact: N.Skliris@soton.ac.uk