Relations between Climate Variability in the Mediterranean Region and the Tropics: ENSO, South Asian and African Monsoons, Hurricanes and Saharan Dust

The Mediterranean climate is affected by several tropical and subtropical systems as illustrated by some evidence presented in this chapter. These factors range from the El Nin~ o Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and tropical hurricanes to the South Asian Monsoon and Saharan dust. This leads to complex features in the Mediterranean climate variability. In the following sections, we review some tropical and subtropical teleconnections to the Mediterranean climate in the following order: El Nin~ o Southern Oscillation is elaborated in Section 2.2, the South Asian Monsoon is discussed in Section 2.3, Section 2.4 is dedicated to African monsoon, tropical cyclones are discussed in Section 2.5 and finally Red Sea Trough intrusions into the Eastern Mediterranean and the Saharan dust are discussed respectively in the Sections 2.6 and 2.7.