scholarly journals Heat waves in Africa 1981–2015, observations and reanalysis

Author(s):  
G. Ceccherini ◽  
S. Russo ◽  
I. Ameztoy ◽  
A. F. Marchese ◽  
C. Carmona-Moreno

Abstract. The purpose of this article is to show the extreme temperature regime of heat waves across Africa over recent years (1981–2015). Heat waves have been quantified using the Heat Wave Magnitude Index daily (HWMId), which merges the duration and the intensity of extreme temperature events into a single numerical index. The HWMId enables a comparison between heat waves with different timing and location, and it has been applied to maximum and minimum temperature records. The time series used in this study have been derived from: (1) observations from the Global Summary of the Day (GSOD); and (2) reanalysis data from ERA-INTERIM. The analysis show an increasing numbers of heat waves of both maxima and minima temperatures in the last decades. Results from heat wave analysis of maximum temperature (HWMIdtx) indicate an increase in intensity and frequency of extreme events. Specifically, from 1996 onwards it is possible to observe HWMIdtx spread with the maximum presence during 2006–2015. Between 2006 and 2015 the frequency (spatial coverage) of extreme heat waves had increased to 24.5 observations (60.1 % of land cover) per year, as compared to 12.3 (37.3 % of land area) per year in the period from 1981 to 2005 for GSOD stations (reanalysis).

2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 115-125 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guido Ceccherini ◽  
Simone Russo ◽  
Iban Ameztoy ◽  
Andrea Francesco Marchese ◽  
Cesar Carmona-Moreno

Abstract. The purpose of this article is to show the extreme temperature regime of heat waves across Africa over recent years (1981–2015). Heat waves have been quantified using the Heat Wave Magnitude Index daily (HWMId), which merges the duration and the intensity of extreme temperature events into a single numerical index. The HWMId enables a comparison between heat waves with different timing and location, and it has been applied to maximum and minimum temperature records. The time series used in this study have been derived from (1) observations from the Global Summary of the Day (GSOD) and (2) reanalysis data from ERA-Interim. The analysis shows an increasing number of heat waves of both maxima and minima temperatures in the last decades. Results from heat wave analysis of maximum temperature (HWMIdtx) indicate an increase in intensity and frequency of extreme events. Specifically, from 1996 onwards it is possible to observe HWMIdtx spread with the maximum presence during 2006–2015. Between 2006 and 2015 the frequency (spatial coverage) of extreme heat waves had increased to 24.5 observations per year (60.1 % of land cover), as compared to 12.3 per year (37.3 % of land area) in the period from 1981 to 2005 for GSOD stations (reanalysis).


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiayan Ren ◽  
Guohe Huang ◽  
Yongping Li ◽  
Xiong Zhou ◽  
Jinliang Xu ◽  
...  

A heat wave is an important meteorological extreme event related to global warming, but little is known about the characteristics of future heat waves in Guangdong. Therefore, a stepwise-clustered simulation approach driven by multiple global climate models (i.e., GCMs) is developed for projecting future heat waves over Guangdong under two representative concentration pathways (RCPs). The temporal-spatial variations of four indicators (i.e., intensity, total intensity, frequency, and the longest duration) of projected heat waves, as well as the potential changes in daily maximum temperature (i.e., Tmax) for future (i.e., 2006–2095) and historical (i.e., 1976–2005) periods, were analyzed over Guangdong. The results indicated that Guangdong would endure a notable increasing annual trend in the projected Tmax (i.e., 0.016–0.03°C per year under RCP4.5 and 0.027–0.057°C per year under RCP8.5). Evaluations of the multiple GCMs and their ensemble suggested that the developed approach performed well, and the model ensemble was superior to any single GCM in capturing the features of heat waves. The spatial patterns and interannual trends displayed that Guangdong would undergo serious heat waves in the future. The variations of intensity, total intensity, frequency, and the longest duration of heat wave are likely to exceed 5.4°C per event, 24°C, 25 days, and 4 days in the 2080s under RCP8.5, respectively. Higher variation of those would concentrate in eastern and southwestern Guangdong. It also presented that severe heat waves with stronger intensity, higher frequency, and longer duration would have significant increasing tendencies over all Guangdong, which are expected to increase at a rate of 0.14, 0.83, and 0.21% per year under RCP8.5, respectively. Over 60% of Guangdong would suffer the moderate variation of heat waves to the end of this century under RCP8.5. The findings can provide decision makers with useful information to help mitigate the potential impacts of heat waves on pivotal regions as well as ecosystems that are sensitive to extreme temperature.


Atmosphere ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 229 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carolina Viceto ◽  
Susana Cardoso Pereira ◽  
Alfredo Rocha

The comprehensive characterization of heat waves and extreme hot days is fundamental for policymakers due to its vast implications for human health. This study evaluates extreme temperature changes over the Iberian Peninsula for the present climate and future projections, considering extreme temperature indices, cold/heat waves, and a recovery factor, using the Weather Research and Forecasting model. The projected temperatures show an increase of over 6 °C. An increase in the number of summer days and tropical nights and a decrease in frost days is expected. The number of heat waves and their duration and intensity are expected to increase. The number of heat wave days are expected to increase, with much of the average summer season being under heat wave conditions. The recovery factor is expected to decrease. Cold spells are projected to decrease in terms of number, intensity, duration, and number of spell days, whereas the recovery factor is expected to increase. Heat wave analysis was combined with maximum temperature thresholds to isolate extreme heat waves. The results show an increase in extreme heat wave days, with regions experiencing over 10 heat wave days with maximum temperature surpassing 45 °C for the long-term future.


Author(s):  
Hojjatollah Yazdanpanah ◽  
Josef Eitzinger ◽  
Marina Baldi

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to assess the spatial and temporal variations of extreme hot days (H*) and heat wave frequencies across Iran. Design/methodology/approach The authors used daily maximum temperature (Tmax) data of 27 synoptic stations in Iran. These data were standardized using the mean and the standard deviation of each day of the year. An extreme hot day was defined when the Z score of daily maximum temperature of that day was equal or more than a given threshold fixed at 1.7, while a heat wave event was considered to occur when the Z score exceeds the threshold for at least three continuous days. According to these criteria, the annual frequency of extreme hot days and the number of heat waves were determined for all stations. Findings The trend analysis of H* shows a positive trend during the past two decades in Iran, with the maximum number of H* (110 cases) observed in 2010. A significant trend of the number of heat waves per year was also detected during 1991-2013 in all the stations. Overall, results indicate that Iran has experienced heat waves in recent years more often than its long-term average. There will be more frequent and intense hot days and heat waves across Iran until 2050, due to estimated increase of mean air temperature between 0.5-1.1 and 0.8-1.6 degree centigrade for Rcp2.6 and Rcp8.8 scenarios, respectively. Originality/value The trend analysis of hot days and heat wave frequencies is a particularly original aspect of this paper. It is very important for policy- and decision-makers especially in agriculture and health sectors of Iran to make some adaptation strategies for future frequent and intense hot days over Iran.


MAUSAM ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 63 (3) ◽  
pp. 401-422
Author(s):  
RAJENDRAKUMAR JENAMANI

During the decade of 1998-2007, both Orissa and Andhra Pradesh at east Coast of India have been affected by heat waves more frequently and more severely causing very high damages to human lives. The most severe heat wave years for the region in the recent past are summer of 1998 over Orissa and 2003 over Andhra Pradesh when 2,042 and nearly 3054 people lost their lives respectively. In summer of 2005, though severe heat wave conditions were experienced for some days over Orissa and adjoining east coasts, the damages were not high as before. In view of such extreme temperature events have been regularly affected the region during the period where their normal frequency is low, analyses of their long period temperature data and study of their relationship with various regional and global ocean-atmospheric features are very much necessary, to find possible causes and then use them in forecasting. In the present study, an attempt has been made to analyze various temperature time series as available, varying from large domain to small domain, e.g., all India temperature, east coast of India temperature etc., to understand whether years which had recorded extreme temperatures in these larger domains have any relationship with that occurred over its very smaller domain, e.g., Orissa from station data, of which later is a part. To understand the relation between the magnitude of heat indices and loss to total human lives it caused during respective whole periods of heat waves, different heat indices, viz., general heat indices, Thom’s discomfort and Webb’s comfort indices have been computed during these extreme years over Orissa and Andhra Pradesh states and compared with total heat wave related human deaths over the respective states for the corresponding years. In addition to various heat indices, various Ocean-atmospheric characteristics, e.g., monthly SST over Bay of Bengal, day-to-day synoptic flow pattern, recurving Cyclonic Storms which strengthen low-level westerly and prohibit onset of Sea breeze over the coastal stations in the region causing persistent of heat waves, have also been critically analyzed both spatially and temporally to find role of these features in such occurrences. Their statistical lag correlations if any with ensuing temperature rise have been tested to explore the possibility of using them in forecasting these events much in advance.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 1149 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alfredo Rocha ◽  
Susana C. Pereira ◽  
Carolina Viceto ◽  
Rui Silva ◽  
Jorge Neto ◽  
...  

Heat waves are large-scale atmospheric phenomena that may cause heat stress in ecosystems and socio-economic activities. In cities, morbidity and mortality may increase during a heat wave, overloading health and emergency services. In the face of climate change and associated warming, cities need to adapt and mitigate the effects of heat waves. This study suggests a new method to evaluate heat waves’ impacts on cities by considering some aspects of heat waves that are not usually considered in other similar studies. The method devises heat wave quantities that are easy to calculate; it is relevant to assessing their impacts and permits the development of adaptation measures. This study applies the suggested method to quantify various aspects of heat waves in Lisbon for future climate projections considering future mid-term (2046–2065) and long-term (2081–2100) climates under the RCP8.5 greenhouse emission scenario. This is achieved through the analysis of various regional climate simulations performed with the WRF model and an ensemble of EURO-CORDEX models. This allows an estimation of uncertainty and confidence of the projections. To evaluate the climate change properties of heat waves, statistics for future climates are compared to those for a reference recent climate. Simulated temperatures are first bias corrected to minimize the model systematic errors relative to observations. The temperature for mid and long-term futures is expected to increase relative to the present by 1.6 °C and 3.6 °C, respectively, with late summer months registering the highest increases. The number of heat wave days per year will increase on average from 10, in the present climate, to 38 and 63 in mid and long-term climates, respectively. Heat wave duration, intensity, average maximum temperature, and accumulated temperature during a heat wave will also increase. Heat waves account for an annual average of accumulated temperature of 358 °C·day in the present climate, while in the mid and long-term, future climates account for 1270 °C·day and 2078 °C·day, respectively. The largest increases are expected to occur from July to October. Extreme intensity and long-duration heat waves with an average maximum temperature of more than 40 °C are expected to occur in the future climates.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Biljana Basarin ◽  
Tin Lukić ◽  
Tanja Micić Ponjiger

<p>A detailed analysis of extreme heatwave events in Serbia from the biometeorological point of view is presented in this study.  For this purpose, the newly developed Heat Wave Magnitude Index daily (HWMId), was used on Physiologically equivalent temperature (PET) for Serbia. A series of daily maximum air temperature, relative humidity, the wind was used to calculate PET for the investigated period 1979–2019. HWMId is defined as the maximum magnitude of the heatwaves in a year. Here, the heatwave is characterized as 3 consecutive days with maximum PET above the daily threshold for the reference period 1981–2010. The analysis revealed that during the investigated period the most intensive heat waves occurred in 2007, 2012 and 2015. HWMId values for 2007 were in the range of 8 to 23 indicating extreme heat stress, while for the other two events the values were not as high. Hourly temperatures revealed that the PET values during the day were as high as 55°C. Thus, the mitigation and adaptation to extreme temperature events are of vital importance for humans and their everyday activities. Future investigation should be oriented towards a way to deal with the oppressive heat. Additionally, more research is needed in order to explain and predict these catastrophic events. The main focus of future activities will be on determining the physical causes which lead to the occurrence of extreme heatwaves.</p><p>Keywords: Heat Wave Magnitude Index daily, Physiologically equivalent temperature, Serbia, heat waves</p><p>Acknowledgment: This research is supported by <strong>EXtremeClimTwin</strong> project funded from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 952384</p>


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ivana Tosic ◽  
Suzana Putniković ◽  
Milica Tošić

<p>Worldwide studies revealed a general increase in frequency and severity of warm extreme temperature events. In this study, extreme temperature events including Heat waves (HWs) are examined. Extreme indices are calculated based on daily maximum temperature (Tx). The following definitions are employed: SU - number of days with Tx > 25 °C, umber of days with Tx > 90<sup>th</sup> percentile, and WSDI - number of days in intervals of at least six consecutive days for which Tx is higher than the calendar day 90<sup>th</sup> percentile. Daily values of air temperatures from 11 meteorological stations distributed across Serbia were used for the period 1949–2017.</p><p>Trends of extreme temperature events and their frequencies are examined. The period 1949–2017 are characterised by a warming of extreme temperature indices (SU, Tx90, HWs). It is found that maximum air temperatures increased at all stations, but statistically significant at 6 stations in winter, 4 stations in summer and two stations in spring. The average number of SU per station was between 63.1 in Novi Sad to 73.5 in Negotin during the summer season. Significant increase of SU is recorded in summer for 10 out of 11 stations. Positive trends of SU and Tx90 are observed for all stations and seasons, except in Novi Sad. The average number of Tx90 is about 9 for all stations in all seasons. The longest heat waves prevailed in 2012, but the most severe are recorded in 2007. Increasing of warm extreme events in Serbia are in agreement with studies for different regions of the world.</p>


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ondřej Lhotka ◽  
Jan Kyselý

<p>Europe experienced several major heat waves in the recent summers, substantially affecting human society and environment. Heat waves are generally related to joint effect of perturbed atmospheric circulation and anomalies in surface energy budget, and they are often linked to hydrological preconditioning. Contributions of these driving mechanisms, however, vary across European climatic zones. Climate models struggle to simulate the spatial differences properly, ultimately leading to large uncertainties in future heat waves’ characteristics. As the first step towards identifying spatial patterns of differences between driving mechanisms of temperature extremes, a pan-European database of observed major heat waves has been created. Heat waves are studied using the E-OBS 20.0e dataset in 0.1° horizontal grid spacing, which is analogous to that used in the ERA5 reanalysis and CORDEX regional climate models. Magnitude of heat waves is defined with respect to local daily maximum temperature (Tmax) variance, using multiples of standard deviation of Tmax summed across individual events. For each heat wave, circulation conditions and surface energy fluxes are analysed using the ERA5 reanalysis, in order to study their links to the heat wave magnitude and geographical location. In the next step, these findings are used for analyzing spatial patterns of heat wave mechanisms and as a source of reference data for evaluation of relevant processes in climate models.</p>


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miyeong Jo ◽  
Jiyeun Ye ◽  
Jihye Yun ◽  
Jaeeun You ◽  
Juyeong Kim ◽  
...  

<p>The frequency of extreme weather phenomena such as heat wave and cold wave has increased recently, and the intensity of weather has been strengthened, resulting in human and physical damage. The Republic of Korea has been working to reduce damage since 2018 by including heat and cold waves in natural disasters. The Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) also provides impact-based forecasts, which requires research that suits local characteristics. In this study, weather observation data related to the summer heat wave in Busan, Ulsan and South Gyeongsang Province was analyzed to determine the weather conditions for the heat wave. In addition, in relation to the heat wave impact-based forecast that was provided regularly in 2019, the heat threshold was applied by comparing the current status of the heat-related patients with the maximum temperature, the number of consecutive days of the heat wave and the current status of the heat-related patients. The impacts of heat waves in different fields were analyzed, including livestock waste, fisheries food damage, and heat damage by crops. The cold wave also analyzed the number of days of cold wave in Busan, Ulsan, and South Gyeongsang Province by comparing the lowest temperature with the current status of cold-related patients. The impacts of cold weather conditions such as wind direction, wind speed and the number of consecutive days of the cold wave were also analyzed. Further, for regular provision of cold wave impact-based forecast to be implemented in 2020, the impacts of each cold wave vulnerable areas suitable for Busan, Ulsan, and South Gyeongsang Province were analyzed and referred to when applying cold wave thresholds.</p>


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