Comparing Approximated Heat Stress Measures Across the United States
Abstract Climate change is escalating the threat of heat stress to global public health, with the majority of humans today facing increasingly severe and prolonged heat waves. Accurate weather data reflecting the complexity of measuring heat stress is crucial for reducing the impact of extreme heat...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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American Geophysical Union (AGU)
2024-01-01
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| Series: | GeoHealth |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1029/2023GH000923 |
| _version_ | 1797341071581118464 |
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| author | Yoonjung Ahn Cascade Tuholske Robbie M. Parks |
| author_facet | Yoonjung Ahn Cascade Tuholske Robbie M. Parks |
| author_sort | Yoonjung Ahn |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Climate change is escalating the threat of heat stress to global public health, with the majority of humans today facing increasingly severe and prolonged heat waves. Accurate weather data reflecting the complexity of measuring heat stress is crucial for reducing the impact of extreme heat on health worldwide. Previous studies have employed Heat Index (HI) and Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT) metrics to understand extreme heat exposure, forming the basis for heat stress guidelines. However, systematic comparisons of meteorological and climate data sets used for these metrics and the related parameters, like air temperature, humidity, wind speed, and solar radiation crucial for human thermoregulation, are lacking. We compared three heat measures (HImax, WBGTBernard, and WBGTLiljegren) approximated from gridded weather data sets (ERA5‐Land, PRISM, Daymet) with ground‐based data, revealing strong agreement from HI and WBGTBernard (R2 0.76–0.95, RMSE 1.69–6.64°C). Discrepancies varied by Köppen‐Geiger climates (e.g., Adjusted R2 HImax 0.88–0.95, WBGTBernard 0.79–0.97, and WBGTLiljegren 0.80–0.96), and metrological input variables (Adjusted R2 Tmax 0.86–0.94, Tmin 0.91–0.94, Wind 0.33, Solarmax 0.38, Solaravg 0.38, relative humidity 0.51–0.74). Gridded data sets can offer reliable heat exposure assessment, but further research and local networks are vital to reduce measurement errors to fully enhance our understanding of how heat stress measures link to health outcomes. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T10:12:32Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-4cf86055cc6749888f5003d00cc0ea23 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2471-1403 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-08T10:12:32Z |
| publishDate | 2024-01-01 |
| publisher | American Geophysical Union (AGU) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | GeoHealth |
| spelling | doaj.art-4cf86055cc6749888f5003d00cc0ea232024-01-29T06:58:29ZengAmerican Geophysical Union (AGU)GeoHealth2471-14032024-01-0181n/an/a10.1029/2023GH000923Comparing Approximated Heat Stress Measures Across the United StatesYoonjung Ahn0Cascade Tuholske1Robbie M. Parks2Geography & Atmospheric Science Department University of Kansas Lawrence KS USADepartment of Earth Sciences Montana State University Bozeman MT USADepartment of Environmental Health Sciences Mailman School of Public Health Columbia University New York NY USAAbstract Climate change is escalating the threat of heat stress to global public health, with the majority of humans today facing increasingly severe and prolonged heat waves. Accurate weather data reflecting the complexity of measuring heat stress is crucial for reducing the impact of extreme heat on health worldwide. Previous studies have employed Heat Index (HI) and Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT) metrics to understand extreme heat exposure, forming the basis for heat stress guidelines. However, systematic comparisons of meteorological and climate data sets used for these metrics and the related parameters, like air temperature, humidity, wind speed, and solar radiation crucial for human thermoregulation, are lacking. We compared three heat measures (HImax, WBGTBernard, and WBGTLiljegren) approximated from gridded weather data sets (ERA5‐Land, PRISM, Daymet) with ground‐based data, revealing strong agreement from HI and WBGTBernard (R2 0.76–0.95, RMSE 1.69–6.64°C). Discrepancies varied by Köppen‐Geiger climates (e.g., Adjusted R2 HImax 0.88–0.95, WBGTBernard 0.79–0.97, and WBGTLiljegren 0.80–0.96), and metrological input variables (Adjusted R2 Tmax 0.86–0.94, Tmin 0.91–0.94, Wind 0.33, Solarmax 0.38, Solaravg 0.38, relative humidity 0.51–0.74). Gridded data sets can offer reliable heat exposure assessment, but further research and local networks are vital to reduce measurement errors to fully enhance our understanding of how heat stress measures link to health outcomes.https://doi.org/10.1029/2023GH000923Heat Index (HI)Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT)DaymetERA5PRISMextreme heat |
| spellingShingle | Yoonjung Ahn Cascade Tuholske Robbie M. Parks Comparing Approximated Heat Stress Measures Across the United States GeoHealth Heat Index (HI) Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT) Daymet ERA5 PRISM extreme heat |
| title | Comparing Approximated Heat Stress Measures Across the United States |
| title_full | Comparing Approximated Heat Stress Measures Across the United States |
| title_fullStr | Comparing Approximated Heat Stress Measures Across the United States |
| title_full_unstemmed | Comparing Approximated Heat Stress Measures Across the United States |
| title_short | Comparing Approximated Heat Stress Measures Across the United States |
| title_sort | comparing approximated heat stress measures across the united states |
| topic | Heat Index (HI) Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT) Daymet ERA5 PRISM extreme heat |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1029/2023GH000923 |
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