Delta Climate in Europe: weather, water, and warnings

- Advancing Atmospheric Science, Water Management, and Societal Preparedness in a Changing European Climate -

The Annual Meetings of the EMS aim at fostering exchange and cross-fertilization of ideas in the meteorological, climatological, and related communities. Facilitating interactions, integration, and engagement of science, applications, and actors is our core objective. The session programme highlights these goals and offers many opportunities for enhancing collaboration across the entire weather and climate enterprise (public, private, academic, users, and NGOs) to benefit societies in Europe and worldwide.

In addition, a particular focus of the 2026 Annual Meeting, reflecting the interests and activities of the host institutions, will be on the challenges for the broad European meteorological infrastructure posed by climate change: to develop tools for early warnings and societal preparedness in a changing European climate.

Delta Climate in Europe: weather, water, and warnings

EMS2026 takes place in a delta climate. A delta, where water from rivers and the sea meet, facing challenges with both too much and too little water availability. European deltas or coastal regions and river plains contain unique ecosystems and wildlife, while they are often also high in population density, urbanization, and with high economic activity. Therefore, these regions are vulnerable to weather and water extremes, and are prone to compound events. The Valencia floods in October 2024 are a recent example, where the warm water from the Mediterranean triggered extreme rainfall along a densely populated coast resulting in devastating floods. This impactful event showed the challenging interface between weather and warnings.

The delta climate also refers to our changing climate. This changing climate affects the weather, our water resources, and the amount and type of warnings. The atmospheric professional community needs to project and quantify changes in, among others, rainfall patterns, urban air temperatures, and wind gusts, while also dealing and communicating their related uncertainties. A changing delta climate is affecting human health, agriculture practice, energy demand planning, transportation, nature conservation, and many other sectors.

Europe is rich in low lying coastal and river areas, which requires an advanced water management from technological and socio-economic perspective. Hence, the broad European meteorological infrastructure is challenged to advance the atmospheric scientific knowledge, to develop tools for early warning, and to promote education and preparedness in all layers of society. This conference will bring together atmospheric scientists, practitioners, educators, and managers in the field of weather, climate, and water management to share knowledge and experiences and to shape the fundamental and applied research agenda.