Abstract
Heatwaves are weather hazards that can influence societal and natural systems. Recently, heatwaves have increased in frequency, duration, and intensity, and this trend is projected to continue as a consequence of climate change. The study of heatwaves is hampered by the lack of a common definition, which limits comparability between studies. This applies in particular to the considered time scale for utilised metrics. Here, we study which durations of heatwaves are most impact-relevant for various types of impacts. For this purpose, we analyse societal metrics related to health (heat-related hospitalisations, mortality) and public attention (Google trends, news articles) in Germany. Country-averaged temperatures are calculated for the period of 2010-2019 and the warmest periods of all time scales between 1 and 90 days are selected. Then, we assess and compare the societal response during those periods to identify the heatwave durations with the most pronounced impacts. Note that these durations are based on average temperatures across the given time frame while individual days may be less warm. The results differ slightly between the considered societal metrics but indicate overall that heatwaves induce the strongest societal response at durations between 2 weeks and 2 months for Germany. Finally, we show that heatwave duration affects the societal response independent of, and additionally to, heatwave temperatures. This finding highlights the relevance of making informed choices on the considered time scale in heatwave analyses. The approach we introduce here can be extended to other societal indices, countries, and hazard types to reveal more meaningful definitions of climate extremes to guide future research on these events.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 104005 |
| Pages (from-to) | 1-12 |
| Number of pages | 12 |
| Journal | Environmental Research Letters |
| Volume | 18 |
| Issue number | 10 |
| Early online date | 14 Sept 2023 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Oct 2023 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:Kelley De Polt, Marleen de Ruiter and Philip J. Ward are supported by funding from the MYRIAD-EU project from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (Grant No. 101003276), and Rene Orth is supported by funding from the German Research Foundation (Emmy Noether Grant No. 391059971).
Funding Information:
The authors thank Ulrich Weber for retrieving and processing ERA5 data, and the Hydrology–Biosphere–Climate Interactions group at the Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry for fruitful discussions. Kelley De Polt and Ekaterina Bogdanovich acknowledge support from the International Max Planck Research School on global biogeochemical cycles. This research is carried out in the MYRIAD-EU project. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (Grant Agreement No. 101003276). The work reflects only the author’s view and that the agency is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information it contains.
Funding Information:
The authors thank Ulrich Weber for retrieving and processing ERA5 data, and the Hydrology-Biosphere-Climate Interactions group at the Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry for fruitful discussions. Kelley De Polt and Ekaterina Bogdanovich acknowledge support from the International Max Planck Research School on global biogeochemical cycles. This research is carried out in the MYRIAD-EU project. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (Grant Agreement No. 101003276). The work reflects only the author’s view and that the agency is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information it contains.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 The Author(s). Published by IOP Publishing Ltd
Funding
Kelley De Polt, Marleen de Ruiter and Philip J. Ward are supported by funding from the MYRIAD-EU project from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (Grant No. 101003276), and Rene Orth is supported by funding from the German Research Foundation (Emmy Noether Grant No. 391059971). The authors thank Ulrich Weber for retrieving and processing ERA5 data, and the Hydrology–Biosphere–Climate Interactions group at the Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry for fruitful discussions. Kelley De Polt and Ekaterina Bogdanovich acknowledge support from the International Max Planck Research School on global biogeochemical cycles. This research is carried out in the MYRIAD-EU project. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (Grant Agreement No. 101003276). The work reflects only the author’s view and that the agency is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information it contains. The authors thank Ulrich Weber for retrieving and processing ERA5 data, and the Hydrology-Biosphere-Climate Interactions group at the Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry for fruitful discussions. Kelley De Polt and Ekaterina Bogdanovich acknowledge support from the International Max Planck Research School on global biogeochemical cycles. This research is carried out in the MYRIAD-EU project. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (Grant Agreement No. 101003276). The work reflects only the author’s view and that the agency is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information it contains.
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| MYRIAD-EU | |
| Ulrich Weber | |
| Horizon 2020 Framework Programme | 101003276 |
| Horizon 2020 Framework Programme | |
| International Max Planck Research School for Environmental, Cellular and Molecular Microbiology | |
| Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft | 391059971 |
| Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft |
Keywords
- extreme heat
- health impacts
- heatwave duration
- societal attention