Is Argentina hotter? Understanding heatwaves temporal and spatial behavior using the ERA5-LAND dataset (1950-2022)
- 1Centre for Climate Change (C3), Department of Geography, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Spain (caterina.cimolai@urv.cat)
- 2Institut Universitari de Recerca en Sostenibilitat, Canvi Climàtic I Transició Energètica (IU-RESCAT), Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Spain (caterina.cimolai@urv.cat)
- 3Research Group on Territorial Analysis and Tourism Studies (GRATET), Department of Geography, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Spain
Climate strongly impacts socio-ecologic systems. Increasing the intensity and frequency of heatwaves is one of its major consequences. Heatwaves are periods of consecutive days when temperatures are much hotter than normal. Cities are especially affected because their impact is usually aggravated by the Urban Heat Island (UHI), an intrinsic phenomenon that increases urban temperatures compared to surrounding rural areas. Extreme hot temperatures affect urban areas causing health problems, increasing energy requirements, and altering water supplies, among others.
Heatwaves have been studied in Argentina but this has not been updated for the whole country recently. Due to these impacts on people’s well-being, infrastructure, and ecosystem functioning, this work proposes to study changes in spatial distribution and frequency of heatwaves in Argentina.
We use the ERA5 LAND dataset and the HeatWaver R package to identify heatwaves over mainland Argentina. For the purpose of this study, we define heatwaves as periods where maximum and/or minimum temperatures are above the 90th percentile of the WMO standard reference period (1961-1990) during five or more consecutive days. We inspect the temporal and spatial extent of the phenome and monitor its changes over time. In agreement with global warming tendencies, heatwaves are more frequent, and a larger portion of the country has been under stress in recent years. We also inspect the heterogeneous impact over the territory and large cities.
To understand the impact of heatwaves in cities, it is crucial to evaluate the risk, which is the conjunction of hazards, exposure and vulnerability. As a first step, this work studies heatwaves as hazards while those other aspects will be incorporated into future research. Our final objective is to reach an urban heatwave risk index, combining meteorological, environmental, urban, and social aspects. This indicator would liaise climate science with local and regional policies and offer information for adaptation and mitigation policies to face climate variability and change.
Keywords: heatwaves, cities, climate change, Argentina.
How to cite: Cimolai, C., Aguilar, E., Zaragozí, B., Olano Pozo, J., and Boqué Ciurana, A.: Is Argentina hotter? Understanding heatwaves temporal and spatial behavior using the ERA5-LAND dataset (1950-2022) , EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 24–28 Apr 2023, EGU23-428, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-428, 2023.
