Context
The Apparent Temperature Heatwave Days index is relevant to human health. This Index is part of the Extreme Heat Hazard type of the Heat and Cold category of the classification.
The index gives the number of days with prolonged periods of simultaneous extreme humidity and heat conditions. The apparent temperature is a measure of discomfort due the combination of heat with high humidity based on physiological studies on evaporative skin cooling.
The higher/lower the apparent temperature, the higher/lower the discomfort.
Definition
The Apparent Temperature Heatwave Days Index (Number of Days) is defined as a period of at least two consecutive days during the summer months (June, July, August) in which both the daily apparent temperature and the daily minimum temperature exceed their monthly 90th percentiles defined over a reference period. Apparent temperature is a linear function of temperature and dew point temperature to account for humidity conditions.
Data Sources
The data was assembled on behalf of the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) based on climate projections hosted on the C3S Climate Data Store (CDS). The Index data is 30-year period statistics based on a set of four bias-corrected multi-model simulations ensemble from the EURO-CORDEX experiment. These simulations have a spatial resolution of 0.1° x 0.1° and cover scenarios RCP4.5 and RCP8.5. More information about the dataset can be found in the corresponding CDS documentation resources.
Supporting Information
Further information about this application can be found in the ECDE application User Guide and the Data and datasets underpining the ECDE.