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Please join us for this Climate Coffee: We are very proud that the next climate coffee is now a Climate Action Day! The European Climate Pact is a movement of people, each taking action to help build a cleaner and more resilient Europe. Launched by the European Commission as part of the European Green Deal, the Pact supports the EU’s goal to become climate-neutral by 2050. Whether you are just getting started or already driving change in your community or organisation, there’s a place for you in the Pact. About this webinar: Title: Mediterranean summer marine heatwaves triggered by weaker winds under subtropical ridges Marine heatwaves, extended periods of elevated sea surface temperature, impact society and ecosystems, and a deeper understanding of their drivers is needed to predict and mitigate adverse effects. These events can be particularly severe in the Mediterranean Sea during the summer, although the factors controlling their occurrence and duration are not fully understood. Here, we use a comprehensive multi-decadal macroevent dataset and a cluster analysis to investigate the atmospheric dynamics preceding the largest summer marine heatwaves in the Mediterranean Sea. Our study identifies the favourable conditions leading up to marine heatwave peaks and reveals that their main synoptic cause in the Mediterranean Sea is the combined effect of persistent subtropical anticyclonic ridges and associated weakening of prevailing wind systems. When persistent subtropical ridges are established over the region, the resulting decrease in wind speeds reduces latent heat loss to the atmosphere, which accounts for over 70% of the total heat flux in affected regions. This reduction, combined with a moderate increase in short-wave radiation, generates and intensifies marine heatwaves. This synergistic relationship is a key mechanism for skilfully predicting such atmospheric circulation patterns and realistically simulating their impacts on the marine environment. Giulia will be presenting the results consolidated in her recent publication: Bonino, G., McAdam, R., Athanasiadis, P. et al. Mediterranean summer marine heatwaves triggered by weaker winds under subtropical ridges. Nat. Geosci. 18, 848–853 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-025-01762-9 Our speaker Giulia Bonino is a research scientist at CMCC. She graduated from the PhD program in Science and Management of Climate Change at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice/CMCC, focusing on the variability of Eastern Boundary Upwelling Systems (EBUS) within an ocean modelling framework (NEMO). She has a strong background in physical oceanography and marine extremes (e.g., marine heatwaves), developed through projects such as FEVERSEA and ObsSea4Clim, and is gaining expertise in coupled physical-biogeochemical coastal modelling through international projects like NECCTON and ACTNOW. What is a Climate Coffee? Climate Coffees are short (circa 40 min: 20 min talk + 20 min Q&A), relaxed meetings for scientists to share ideas, discuss methods, and communicate new results. They are open to speakers of all seniority; we especially encourage early-career scientists to become speakers. The Coffees are an exciting opportunity for scientists to build a network and disseminate recent results peer-to-peer. We invite researchers from across the climate science community to join us for this series of regular online knowledge exchange events. Recording: https://youtu.be/UOFhWH6kvRU Sign up for the next events here: https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/climate-coffees-series-talks-on-and-about-climate-2655309 The climate coffees are funded by a number of projects, including OCEAN ICE, TipESM and ObsSea4Clim. ObsSea4Clim is funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Research Executive Agency. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.