The Mediterranean Sea as a centre of the ancient world has been early recognized as a
laboratory basin for a variety of atmospheric ocean and climate studies. Its uniqueness is
manifested in its geographical position a mid-latitude region connecting three continents
orography that affects cyclogenesis precipitation and winds ocean bathymetry that is shaped
by narrow and shallow straits passages and sills and other. Its both atmospheric and oceanic
climate is distinctive and while differing substantially from neighbouring continents and
oceans it strongly interferes and shapes their properties. One of such adjacent basins is the
Black Sea which is albeit minor in quantity providing a noteworthy impact to the
Mediterranean and vice versa. This topical volume of Pure and Applied Geophysics is presenting
recent investigations of atmospheric and ocean properties processes and climate of both basins
being inspired by presentations given in the Joint Congress of the 6th International Conference
on Meteorology and Climatology of the Mediterranean & Challenges in Meteorology 5 held in
Zagreb Croatia on 20-22 February 2017. The volume comprises 22 papers that are classified in
three research categories: (1) storms extremes and mesoscale processes (2) atmospheric
climate variability and climate change and (3) ocean climate and variability. The papers
investigate processes occurring over a variety of spatial and temporal scales from hemispheric
processes that drive the observed changes in the Mediterranean and Black Sea through phenomena
that are influencing the whole basin or its sub-basins to local and mesoscale extreme events
that are affecting large cities and local populations in the region. The volume is of interest
to atmospheric and oceanic researchers involved in a variety of processes that are occurring
over the Mediterranean and Black Sea region. This particularly refers to young researchers and
PhD students that are yet to enter to research of this unique and exciting region full of
challenges that need an interdisciplinary innovative and state-of-the-art approaches in
solving actual research problems.
