17-24 January 2025 - Paleo- & Future-landscape Artwork
As part of the PALEOSIM project, we collaborated with local graphic designer Mel Grek to create a series of stunning visualizations of Maltese landscapes. These artworks bring to life how these locations might have appeared during the Last Ice Age, contrasted with projections of how they could look in a future shaped by significant climate change.
The artwork (shown below) focuses around photos of Maltese landscapes, taken in 2024 by Marie Curie Fellow, Dr James Ciarlo`.
The Ice Age images are based on the paleoclimate simulations developed for PALEOSIM, and the paleogeography of Foglini et al. (2024). They depict Malta when sea levels were around 130 m lower than today, revealing the famous Malta-Sicily land-bridge. More lush vegetation would have been possible due to the higher annual rainfall suggested by the simulations. Small amounts of seasonal snow were also projected by paleoclimate simulations.
The visualizations of the future are set in a future with global warming levels (GWL) reaching 3°C above pre-industrial levels (currently expected by the end of the century) and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) projections for the Sixth Assessment Cycle. Under these conditions, the Mediterranean region, including Malta, is projected to experience significantly drier conditions, with a notable decrease in annual precipitation. It could also experience more frequent and prolonged heatwaves, which would likely exacerbate the accumulation of air pollutants, potentially impacting local ecosystems and human health.
Visualized above: Xrobb l-Għaġin in Marsaxlokk, Malta, during (from top to bottom) the Ice Age, present day, and a potential future.
Visualized above: Ġebel Ciantar in Siġġiewi, Malta, during (from top to bottom) the Ice Age, present day, and a potential future.
24 December 2024 - Citizen-Science Data
The data obtained through the PALEOSIM Citizen Science Program was evaluated by several international experts. The evaluated dataset is now publicly available on the Zenodo platform and an analysis study is currently in development.
21-22 December 2024 - Paleoclimate Simulation Data
Surface temperature, wind speed, and rainfall (together with elevation) data from the high-resolution paleoclimate simulations performed for PALEOSIM have been made publicly available on the Zenodo platform. The variables available are from an evaluation simulation, and five experiments: historical (1995-2004); Pre-Industrial (1850-1859); Year 1000 (1000-1009); Mid-Holocene (6,000 years ago); Last Glacial Maximum (21,000 years ago). The analysis is currently underway and will be submitted for peer-review in the coming months.
12 December 2024 - Climatology at Giordan Lighthouse
An analysis of a meteorological dataset from the Giordan Lighthouse in Gozo has been submitted to Open Research Europe. This study was possible thanks to the collaboration of the Atmospheric Monitoring & Research Group at the Geosciences Department. The article will soon be available as a pre-print while it goes through the peer-review process. The data, software, and supplementary images are available on the Zenodo platform.
18 July 2024 - Climate Suitability Index publication
A paper describing the climate suitability index developed as part of the PALEOSIM project is available on the EGUsphere as a pre-print. The study, entitled 'A climate suitability index for ecological habitats applied to terrestrial arthropods in the Mediterranean Region', will undergo a rigorous peer-review process, after which, eventually, it will become available as a published article.
13 June 2024 - End of Citizen-Science Data Collection
The PALEOSIM Citizen Science Program wrapped up data collection, amassing a successful 612 arthropod observations thanks to both fieldwork and volunteers using the Epicollect5 app. This valuable data will improve understanding of arthropod distribution in the Circum-Sicilian Islands (see image). A huge thank you to all our citizen scientists!
Since the closing of the program, the data has been validated by numerous international experts and is now publicly available. An analysis study is currently in development.
29 May 2024 - UMRE 2024
Dr James Ciarlo` showcased regional paleoclimate simulation results and applications to ecological studies at the University of Malta Research Expo 2024.
The poster provided a basic evaluation of simulations from different time periods (namely, the 2000s, 1850s, 1000s, 4000 BCE, and 19000 BCE). Climate statistics from this data-set was used in connection with the Ecological Modelling technique developed through PALEOSIM to showcase the ecological stress experienced by the Grey Mantis due to past climate changes.
14-16 May 2024 - Med-CORDEX 2024
Dr James Ciarlo` attended the Med-CORDEX workshop in Rome, which included presentations and discussions of current research and plans associated with climate modelling of the Mediterranean basin.
29 April-3 May 2024 - Fieldwork: Aeolian Islands
Dr James Ciarlo` and Prof. David Mifsud visited the Aeolian islands in Sicily (specifically Lipari, Vulcano, Panarea, and Stromboli) to conduct fieldwork for PALEOSIM. This, like past activities, was intended to observe and log the position of arthropods in their natural habitat.
The images below shows the Sicilian Honey Bee (Apis mellifera sicula) observed in Lipari during this fieldwork.
15-19 April 2024 - EGU 2024
Dr James Ciarlo` gave a presentation at the European Geosciences Union (EGU) in Vienna. His presentation included early results on the climate impacts on arthropod habitats in Mediterranean, as part of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions project PALEOSIM.
11-15 December 2023 - AGU 2023, San Francisco
Progress on the evaluation of the simulations was presented during the 'American Geophysical Union 2023 Fall Meeting' in San Francisco, USA.
16-20 October 2023 - ECE 2023, Crete
At the 'XII European Congress of Entomology - ECE 2023' in Heraklion, Crete, Greece, Dr James Ciarlo` presented the method developed for PALEOSIM to assess the ideal climatological conditions of an arthropod's habitat according to the observed locations of a species of interest.
4 September-15 October 2023 - ICTP Secondment #2: Paleoclimate Setup
During a 6 week secondment at the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics, in Trieste, Italy, Dr Ciarlo` collaborated with the Earth System Physics Section for the preparations of the paleoclimate simulations. The RegCM requires adjustments to several input conditions in order to run reliable simulations. Special attenton was given to orbital parameters, greenhouse gas concentrations, terrain types, and elevation (the elevation map for the Last Glacial Maximum is shown below).
While in Trieste, PALEOSIM was also featured in a poster for the 'International Conference on Regional Climate ICRC-CORDEX 2023', and the paleoclimate tool and requirements of RegCM were presented at the '11th Workshop on the Theory and Use of Regional Climate Models'.
22-26 April 2023 [Newspoint] - Fieldwork: Sicily & Lampedusa
The first fieldwork conducted outside of Malta took place at the end of April, in Sicily and Lampedusa. Following a public talk at the University of Catania (see Outreach), Dr Ciarlo` was accompanied by Prof. David Mifsud, and Arthur Lamoliere on this observation campaign into the Circum-Sicilian islands. This was the first of several fieldwork activities that will take place on islands in the region to observe and log (using the citizen-science app) arthropods in their natural habitat.
The images below describe some of the species observed on this trip. From left to right, the top images show Liometopum microcephalum (Small-headed Tree Ant) and Scarabaeus variolosus (Old World Dung Beetle) from Sicily, while the bottom images show Polyommatus celina (Austaut's Blue [butterfly]) and Apis mellifera (Western Honey Bee) from Lampedusa.
13 March 2023 - RegCM5 publication
The paper describing the Regional Climate Model, RegCM5 and initial testing on the European region is published on the "Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres" with Dr James Ciarlo` as a co-author. The RegCM5 will be used to run the new simulations required for the PALEOSIM project. The paper may be cited as follows:
, , , , , , et al. (2023). The fifth generation regional climate modeling system, RegCM5. Part I: Description and illustrative examples at parameterized convection and convection-permitting resolutions. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 128, e2022JD038199. https://doi.org/10.1029/2022JD038199
15 January-16 March 2023 - ICTP Secondment #1: Region & Configuration
Dr James Ciarlo` spent 2 months on secondment at the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics, in Trieste, Italy. He collaborated with the Earth System Physics Section on new tests and analysis for the Regional Climate Model, RegCM5. This also provided crucial support to identify the most stable study domain for the PALEOSIM project. While configuration tests are still ongoing, PALEOSIM simulations will focus on the region shown below, which describes an area of 1800x3180 km as a box of 600x1060 grid cells (each of 3x3 km).
30 January-3 February 2023 - EURO-CORDEX GA 2023
The Marie Curie European Research Officer, Dr James Ciarlo` participated in the EURO-CORDEX General Assembly (held online), where the future plans of the EURO-CORDEX simulations were discussed. CORDEX is an initiative to advance and coordinate the science and application of regional climate modelling through global partnerships. The EURO-CORDEX domain describes an area of 4980x5124 km as a box of 415x427 grid cells (each of 12x12 km) as shown below.
27 September 2022 - Social Media Page
PALEOSIM Project is live on ResearchGate, where updates and milestones will be added regularly.
Note: As of 31st March 2023, ResearchGate will retire the Projects feature and remove all projects from the site. New PALEOSIM updates will be shared on the project's Facebook page.
1 September 2022 - Website Launch
Information about the project and the research team is made available. A section has been dedicated to the Citizen Science Program which will be launched within the coming weeks. Further information about the project and activities will be made available throughout the duration of the project.
1 August 2022 - Project kick-off
Project kick-off at the University of Malta (host institution).