Mediterranean Climate‐Variability and Trends

The first volume in Springer's Regional Climate Studies series focuses on the Mediterranean Basin. This is a climatically interesting and diverse region, subject to the influences of the Mediterranean Sea and the large‐scale circulation patterns associated with the south Asian monsoon, Siberian high pressure system, southern oscillation, and North Atlantic oscillation. All of these influences are modified by the complex local topography and characterized by regional processes such as Mediterranean cyclogenesis. It is also a sensitive region, with a long and rich human history where the impacts of past, present, and future climate variability on the rate of desertification, for example, are potentially large. Thus, the recent research into many facets of the climate of the Mediterranean Basin is welcome and timely. For researchers and students unfamiliar with the region, a standard overview textbook has not been available, so Mediterranean Climate—Variability and Trends has the potential to fill an important gap.