Extreme events in biological, societal, and earth sciences: A systematic review of the literature
The term “extreme event” is commonly used to describe high-impact, unanticipated natural events, like floods, tsunamis, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions. It first appeared in the scientific literature in the 1950s and has since spread to disciplines as diverse as economics, psychology, medicine,...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2022-08-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Earth Science |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feart.2022.786829/full |
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| author | Mathew Stewart W. Christopher Carleton Huw S. Groucutt Huw S. Groucutt Huw S. Groucutt Huw S. Groucutt |
| author_facet | Mathew Stewart W. Christopher Carleton Huw S. Groucutt Huw S. Groucutt Huw S. Groucutt Huw S. Groucutt |
| author_sort | Mathew Stewart |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The term “extreme event” is commonly used to describe high-impact, unanticipated natural events, like floods, tsunamis, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions. It first appeared in the scientific literature in the 1950s and has since spread to disciplines as diverse as economics, psychology, medicine, and engineering. The term is increasingly being applied to the study of historical, prehistorical, and deep-time events across a broad range of scales, and it is widely acknowledged that such events have had profound impacts on the Earth’s biodiversity and cultures. Understandably, then, how people think about, define, and study extreme events varies considerably. With extreme events expected to become more frequent, longer lasting, and more intense in the coming decades as a result of global warming, the differing extreme event definitions—both across and within disciplines—is likely to lead to confusion among researchers and pose significant challenges for predicting and preparing for extreme events and their impacts on natural and social systems. With this in mind, we conducted a systematic quantitative review of 200 randomly selected, peer-reviewed “extreme event” research papers (sourced from Web of Science, accessed January 2020) from the biological, societal, and earth sciences literature with the aim of quantifying several pertinent features of the research sample. On the one hand, our analysis found a great deal of variability among extreme event papers with respect to research interests, themes, concepts, and definitions. On the other hand, we found a number of key similarities in how researchers think about and study extreme events. One similarity we encountered was that researchers tend to view extreme events within a particular temporal context and quite often in terms of rates of change. Another similarity we encountered was that researchers often think of and study extreme events in terms of risks, vulnerabilities, and impacts. The similarities identified here may be useful in developing a common and comprehensive definition of what constitutes an extreme event, and should allow for more comparative research into extreme events at all spatio-temporal scales which, we predict, will provide important new insights into the nature of extreme events. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-14T02:33:31Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-b46fe48a1ca54ada8de9ae29acea30b5 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2296-6463 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-14T02:33:31Z |
| publishDate | 2022-08-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Earth Science |
| spelling | doaj.art-b46fe48a1ca54ada8de9ae29acea30b52022-12-22T02:17:36ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Earth Science2296-64632022-08-011010.3389/feart.2022.786829786829Extreme events in biological, societal, and earth sciences: A systematic review of the literatureMathew Stewart0W. Christopher Carleton1Huw S. Groucutt2Huw S. Groucutt3Huw S. Groucutt4Huw S. Groucutt5Extreme Events Research Group, Max Planck Institutes for Geoanthropology, Chemical Ecology, and Biogeochemistry, Jena, GermanyExtreme Events Research Group, Max Planck Institutes for Geoanthropology, Chemical Ecology, and Biogeochemistry, Jena, GermanyExtreme Events Research Group, Max Planck Institutes for Geoanthropology, Chemical Ecology, and Biogeochemistry, Jena, GermanyDepartment of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, GermanyInstitute of Prehistoric Archaeology, University of Cologne, Cologne, GermanyDepartment of Classics and Archaeology, University of Malta, Msida, MaltaThe term “extreme event” is commonly used to describe high-impact, unanticipated natural events, like floods, tsunamis, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions. It first appeared in the scientific literature in the 1950s and has since spread to disciplines as diverse as economics, psychology, medicine, and engineering. The term is increasingly being applied to the study of historical, prehistorical, and deep-time events across a broad range of scales, and it is widely acknowledged that such events have had profound impacts on the Earth’s biodiversity and cultures. Understandably, then, how people think about, define, and study extreme events varies considerably. With extreme events expected to become more frequent, longer lasting, and more intense in the coming decades as a result of global warming, the differing extreme event definitions—both across and within disciplines—is likely to lead to confusion among researchers and pose significant challenges for predicting and preparing for extreme events and their impacts on natural and social systems. With this in mind, we conducted a systematic quantitative review of 200 randomly selected, peer-reviewed “extreme event” research papers (sourced from Web of Science, accessed January 2020) from the biological, societal, and earth sciences literature with the aim of quantifying several pertinent features of the research sample. On the one hand, our analysis found a great deal of variability among extreme event papers with respect to research interests, themes, concepts, and definitions. On the other hand, we found a number of key similarities in how researchers think about and study extreme events. One similarity we encountered was that researchers tend to view extreme events within a particular temporal context and quite often in terms of rates of change. Another similarity we encountered was that researchers often think of and study extreme events in terms of risks, vulnerabilities, and impacts. The similarities identified here may be useful in developing a common and comprehensive definition of what constitutes an extreme event, and should allow for more comparative research into extreme events at all spatio-temporal scales which, we predict, will provide important new insights into the nature of extreme events.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feart.2022.786829/fullclimate changenatural hazardhuman healthprehistoryvulnerabilityrisk |
| spellingShingle | Mathew Stewart W. Christopher Carleton Huw S. Groucutt Huw S. Groucutt Huw S. Groucutt Huw S. Groucutt Extreme events in biological, societal, and earth sciences: A systematic review of the literature Frontiers in Earth Science climate change natural hazard human health prehistory vulnerability risk |
| title | Extreme events in biological, societal, and earth sciences: A systematic review of the literature |
| title_full | Extreme events in biological, societal, and earth sciences: A systematic review of the literature |
| title_fullStr | Extreme events in biological, societal, and earth sciences: A systematic review of the literature |
| title_full_unstemmed | Extreme events in biological, societal, and earth sciences: A systematic review of the literature |
| title_short | Extreme events in biological, societal, and earth sciences: A systematic review of the literature |
| title_sort | extreme events in biological societal and earth sciences a systematic review of the literature |
| topic | climate change natural hazard human health prehistory vulnerability risk |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feart.2022.786829/full |
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