ExtremeClimTwin Climatron Plus

The ExtremeClimTwin Climatron Plus event was held on January 24-26th, 2023. Participants worked online and onsite at the Faculty of Sciences, University of Novi Sad with their teams, analysed and addressed the challenges that were prepared to them.

The event focused on statistical analysis of extreme climate events. A series of "Open Sessions" were held where basic and advanced questions about hydro-climate data were answered, applications were discussed, and time was devoted to in-depth analyses.

This event was a continuation from the previous Climatron held in October 2022 (https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7860729), building upon the challenges and knowledge gained. The challenges were similar in nature but more advanced and designed to push participants to the next level. For those attending the event for the first time, the challenges were the same as those presented in the previous event. This provided a foundation for understanding and allowed for a seamless integration into the program.

"Challenge 1, titled  "Extreme Climate Indicators – level up" was lead by Prof. Dr. Robert Wilby, focused on utilizing powerful tools for monitoring climate risks, including indicators for hazard exposure, vulnerability, impacts, and adaptation actions. Participants were required to go through three steps, starting with identifying and processing open-source data on climate risks, creating a time series or map of the identified risk indicator, and finally producing a one-page summary sheet that included information on the purpose of the indicator and its key sources, along with the visual representation of the trend in the index and predictions on how it might change in the future due to climate change.

"Challenge 2, titled "Exploring the Frontiers of Extreme Weather Attribution: An Advanced Analysis Challenge" was coordinated by Dr. Carley Iles, form the CICERO Institute, form Oslo, Norway. This challenge allowed participants to unlock the secrets of extreme weather events and their connection to climate change through an advanced level challenge. Using cutting-edge extreme event attribution methods, participants had the opportunity to dive deep into the data and analyze real-world extreme weather events to determine the impact of human-induced climate change. With the powerful Climate Explorer tool, participants selected an event of their choice, created maps and time series plots to understand what happened, defined the event for analysis, calculated probability and return period of the event in current and past climates, validated available climate model data and made a brief report to document the main steps and findings. This was an unparalleled opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of the complex relationship between extreme weather and climate change and to develop the skills to make their own attribution statement."

"Challenge 3, titled "Unlocking the Secrets of Extreme Climate Data: An Advanced Time-Series Analysis Challenge" was concieved and lead by Dr. Manfred Mudelsee from Climate Risk Analysis, Germany. Dr. Mudelsee guided participants through the process of identifying and calculating climate extremes, analyzing trends, testing hypotheses, and conducting a thorough analysis of climate time series data. With the use of cutting-edge techniques and tools, participants gained a deeper understanding of how to unlock the information hidden in climate data and developed the skills to make their own analysis and conclusions. This advanced challenge allowed participants to unlock the secrets of extreme climate data and discover the answers to crucial questions about climate extremes, taking their understanding of climate science to the next level."

The teams with the best solutions were supported by EXtremeClimTwin experts in their research and had their scientific results published in an open access scientific journal. Additionally, the winning teams were awarded support to present their results at international scientific conferences.