| ABSTRACT | Elevation dependent warming has been observed in several regions of the globe, with higher rates of warming having occurred at increasingly higher altitude over the past decades. Similarly, greater trends of warming have been found to occur in mountain regions in XXI century climate model projections as compared to sea level trends. We used an ensemble of XXI century multi model projections to investigate whether a similar elevation dependency can be found in the projected change of climate extremes. Climate extremes were studied adopting a selection of indices from the ETCCDI project, including temperature and precipitation extremes and spells. Our results show an elevation dependent change in several adopted indices, pointing towards an amplification of the change in temperature extremes and of a shift from low intensity to heavy precipitation in mountain regions. Results are discussed with a particular attention to Mediterranean mountain regions. |