Where's the Heat? Spatiotemporal Evolution of Heat Waves Across the U.S.
Topics:
Keywords: Heatwave, Climate Change, Spatial Metrics, AI
Abstract Type: Paper Abstract
Authors:
David Keellings, University of Florida
Erin Bunting, Michigan State University
Hamid Moradkhani, University of Alabama
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Abstract
Heat waves have pronounced impacts on human health, ecosystems, and society. Heat waves have become more frequent and intense globally and are likely to intensify further as a result of anthropogenic climate change. Across the United States there is a warming trend in average surface temperatures, but a concordant increase in heat wave severity appears absent. Limitations in previous heat wave research may be responsible for the seeming absence of a heat wave warming signal. We track heat waves daily using simple geometric concepts and clustering algorithms to elucidate the spatiotemporal evolution of heat and investigate how it manifests on the land surface. We develop a new spatial metric combining heat wave frequency, magnitude, duration, and areal extent. We find mixed trends in some individual heat wave characteristics across the U.S. during 1981-2018. However, exploration of combined heat wave characteristics using the newly developed spatial metric shows considerable increases during this period and indicates a substantial increase in heat wave hazard across the U.S.
Where's the Heat? Spatiotemporal Evolution of Heat Waves Across the U.S.
Category
Paper Abstract
