Heatwaves in Europe: areas of homogeneous variability and links with the regional to large-scale atmospheric and SSTs anomalies

This work presents a methodology to study the interannual variability associated with summertime months in which extremely hot temperatures are frequent. Daily time series of maximum and minimum temperature fields (T _max and T _min, respectively) are used to define indexes of extreme months based on the number of days crossing thresholds. An empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis is applied to the monthly indexes. EOF loadings give information about the geographical areas where the number of days per month with extreme temperatures has the largest variability. Correlations between the EOF principal components and the time series of other fields allow plotting maps highlighting the anomalies in the large scale circulation and in the SSTs that are associated with the occurrence of extreme events. The methodology is used to construct the “climatology” of the extremely hot summertime months over Europe. In terms of both interannual and intraseasonal variability, there are three regions in which the frequency of the extremely hot days per month homogeneously varies: north-west Europe, Euro-Mediterranean and Eurasia region. Although extremes over those regions occur during the whole summer (June to August), the anomalous climatic conditions associated with frequent heatwaves present some intraseasonal variability. Extreme climate events over the north-west Europe and Eurasia are typically related to the occurrence of blocking situations. The intraseasonal variability of those patterns is related to the amplitude of the blocking, the relative location of the action centre and the wavetrain of anomalies downstream or upstream of the blocking. During June and July, blocking situations which give extremely hot climate conditions over north-west Europe are also associated with cold conditions over the eastern Mediterranean sector. The Euro-Mediterranean region is a transition area in which extratropical and tropical systems compete, influencing the occurrence of climate events: blockings tend to be related to extremely hot months during June while baroclinic anomalies dominate the variability of the climate events in July and August. We highlight that our method could be easily applied to other regions of the world, to other fields as well as to model outputs to assess, e.g. the potential change of extreme climate events in a warmer climate.     

全球热浪人口暴露度预估——基于热应力指数

气候变化导致全球热浪灾害事件频发。湿球黑球温度综合考虑了温度和湿度协同作用,相较于单独的温度指标更能表征热浪对人类社会的影响。基于该指数定义热浪,利用CMIP5多模式温度和相对湿度模拟数据以及SSP3人口数据,量化并分析了未来全球及区域尺度热浪的人口暴露度变化以及造成暴露度变化的各因素的贡献率。结果表明：(1)过去(1986—2005年)暴露度的分布主要受人口分布的影响,印度次大陆以及中国东部、东南沿海地区是暴露度高值区,未来(2081—2100年)热带地区暴露度的增加尤为明显;(2)全球区域间暴露度变化差异显著,未来南亚地区平均暴露度的增幅最大,接近3×10⁴万人·d,而澳大利亚北部、亚洲北部、加拿大地区平均暴露度的增幅不足100万人·d;(3)气候和人口因素共同作用是造成绝大多数热带地区暴露度变化的最主要原因,而对于中高纬度地区来说,气候要素的贡献率最大;(4)气候和人口因素共同作用对全球暴露度变化的贡献占据主导地位。     

欧洲地区夏季热浪的特征及其与阻塞环流的联系

选取了一个热浪指数,利用地面2 m气温场和500 h Pa位势高度场的美国环境预报中心和国家大气研究中心(NCEP/NCAR)再分析资料,通过聚类分析发现欧洲大陆容易产生6类热浪:西欧型(WE)、俄罗斯型(RU)、东欧型(EE)、斯堪的纳维亚半岛型(SC)、北海型(NS)、伊比利亚半岛型(IB);这些热浪事件都与欧洲大陆阻塞的位置有关。同时我们发现这6类热浪发生的频率出现明显的年代际变化,特别在20世纪80年代以后欧洲大陆热浪发生频率明显的增多趋势可能与欧洲大陆增暖背景有关,而欧洲大陆热浪发生频率的年代际变化可能是夏季北大西洋涛动(NAO)的年代际变化的结果。夏季NAO偶极子通过欧洲地区的阻塞异常对欧洲大陆气温有重要的调制作用。当夏季NAO指数处于正位相阶段时,欧洲大陆容易产生高纬度热浪,反之则容易产生低纬度热浪,并且欧洲大陆增暖趋势并不影响NAO对欧洲气温的调制作用。同时还发现:大西洋夏季NAO事件可以是欧洲热浪发生的前期条件,欧洲大陆阻塞异常落后于NAO事件1~5 d,其中IB型和WE型与NAO同期相关,其余4类型热浪对应阻塞落后于NAO 4~5 d。另外,也发现大西洋—欧洲大陆定常波列正距平的位置通过对欧洲阻塞的影响,而影响欧洲热浪发生的频率和位置。