HYMEX, an experimental program dedicated to the hydrological cycle in the Mediterranean

In our climate change context, the hydrological cycle in the Mediterranean region is a key scientific, environmental and socio-economic question. The region features a nearly closed sea surrounded by urbanized littorals and mountains. This results in interactions between oceanic, atmospheric, and hydrological processes which play a predominant role on the regional climate and extreme event occurrence, and affect their prediction.

In this context, the HyMeX (HYdrological cycle in the Mediterranean Experiment, http://www.hymex.org/) objectives are (1) to improve our understanding of the water cycle, with emphases on extreme events by monitoring and modelling the Mediterranean coupled system, its variability (from event scale, to seasonal and interannual scales) and characteristics over one decade in the context of global change; (2) to evaluate the societal and economical vulnerability to extreme events and the adaptation capacity. The HyMeX project plans the monitoring of atmospheric, oceanic and hydrological variables during a long observation period with additional ground-based, shipborne and airborne means in 2012-2014.