Significant Increases in Wet Nighttime and Daytime–Nighttime Compound Heat Waves in China from 1961 to 2020

Heat waves (HWs) with high humidity are dangerous to human health. However, existing studies on different types of HWs considering the effect of humidity are still limited. This study defines three types of wet summer HWs (that is, wet independent daytime and nighttime HWs and wet daytime-nighttime compound HWs) and investigates their spatial-temporal changes across China during 1961–2020. Results show significant upward trends of wet nighttime and compound HWs in terms of frequency, occurring days, duration, intensity and spatial extent, while changes for wet daytime HWs are weak and insignificant in nearly all sub-regions of China except for southwest and eastern northwest China. Compared with wet compound and daytime HWs, wet nighttime HWs accompanied by more elevated relative humidity exhibit larger growth rates in frequency, occurring days, duration and affected areas. Additionally, most wet nighttime and compound HWs with the longest duration and/or the maximum intensity are found to occur after the mid-1990s, compared to fewer than half for wet daytime HWs. Our findings emphasize the prominent intensifying trends in wet nighttime HWs across China for the last 60 years, and suggest more efforts on exploring humid HWs.

[1]  Fengchow C. Ma,et al.  Characteristics and circulation patterns for wet and dry compound day-night heat waves in mid-eastern China , 2022, Global and Planetary Change.

[2]  Jianqi Sun,et al.  Increases of extreme heat-humidity days endanger future populations living in China , 2022, Environmental Research Letters.

[3]  N. Lau,et al.  Influences of the boreal winter Arctic Oscillation on the peak-summer compound heat waves over the Yangtze–Huaihe River basin: the North Atlantic capacitor effect , 2022, Climate Dynamics.

[4]  D. Jiang,et al.  Detectable anthropogenic influence on summer compound hot events over China from 1965 to 2014 , 2022, Environmental Research Letters.

[5]  Ying Xu,et al.  Substantial increase in daytime-nighttime compound heat waves and associated population exposure in China projected by the CMIP6 multimodel ensemble , 2022 .

[6]  Wenjun Ma,et al.  Anthropogenic emissions and urbanization increase risk of compound hot extremes in cities , 2021, Nature Climate Change.

[7]  Yongquan Zhao,et al.  Urbanization-driven increases in summertime compound heat extremes across China. , 2021, The Science of the total environment.

[8]  Xing Yuan,et al.  Impact of climate and population changes on the increasing exposure to summertime compound hot extremes. , 2021, The Science of the total environment.

[9]  Z. Ren,et al.  Projecting heat-related excess mortality under climate change scenarios in China , 2021, Nature Communications.

[10]  Changchun Chen,et al.  Population exposure to concurrent daytime and nighttime heatwaves in Huai River Basin, China , 2020 .

[11]  M. Luo,et al.  Different changes in dry and humid heat waves over China , 2020, International Journal of Climatology.

[12]  Yihui Ding,et al.  Mechanisms for regional compound hot extremes in the mid‐lower reaches of the Yangtze River , 2020, International Journal of Climatology.

[13]  S. Perkins‐Kirkpatrick,et al.  Increasing trends in regional heatwaves , 2020, Nature Communications.

[14]  T. Kjellstrom,et al.  Economic costs of heat-induced reductions in worker productivity due to global warming , 2020 .

[15]  Deliang Chen,et al.  More frequent summer heat waves in southwestern China linked to the recent declining of Arctic sea ice , 2020, Environmental Research Letters.

[16]  J. Marotzke,et al.  Hotspots of extreme heat under global warming , 2020, Climate Dynamics.

[17]  P. Zhai,et al.  Anthropogenically-driven increases in the risks of summertime compound hot extremes , 2020, Nature Communications.

[18]  P. Zhai,et al.  Half‐a‐Degree Matters for Reducing and Delaying Global Land Exposure to Combined Daytime‐Nighttime Hot Extremes , 2019, Earth's Future.

[19]  N. Lau,et al.  Characteristics of summer heat stress in China during 1979‒2014: climatology and long-term trends , 2019, Climate Dynamics.

[20]  C. Miao,et al.  Global heat stress on health, wildfires, and agricultural crops under different levels of climate warming. , 2019, Environment international.

[21]  Jianping Tang,et al.  Future projection of heat waves over China under global warming within the CORDEX-EA-II project , 2019, Climate Dynamics.

[22]  B. Dong,et al.  Recent Decadal Changes in Heat Waves over China: Drivers and Mechanisms , 2018, Journal of Climate.

[23]  S. Mukherjee,et al.  A sixfold rise in concurrent day and night-time heatwaves in India under 2 °C warming , 2018, Scientific Reports.

[24]  Jianqi Sun,et al.  Can Barents Sea Ice Decline in Spring Enhance Summer Hot Drought Events over Northeastern China? , 2018, Journal of Climate.

[25]  S. Seneviratne,et al.  Future climate risk from compound events , 2018, Nature Climate Change.

[26]  Yang Xia,et al.  Assessment of the economic impacts of heat waves: A case study of Nanjing, China , 2018 .

[27]  E. Fischer,et al.  Extreme heat waves under 1.5 °C and 2 °C global warming , 2018 .

[28]  W. Dong,et al.  Are Peak Summer Sultry Heat Wave Days over the Yangtze-Huaihe River Basin Predictable? , 2017 .

[29]  A. Sterl,et al.  Humid heat waves at different warming levels , 2017, Scientific Reports.

[30]  Yihui Ding,et al.  Observed trends in various aspects of compound heat waves across China from 1961 to 2015 , 2017, Journal of Meteorological Research.

[31]  E. Hawkins,et al.  Global risk of deadly heat , 2017 .

[32]  P. Zhai,et al.  Revisiting summertime hot extremes in China during 1961–2015: Overlooked compound extremes and significant changes , 2017 .

[33]  F. Giorgi,et al.  Changes of effective temperature and cold/hot days in late decades over China based on a high resolution gridded observation dataset , 2017 .

[34]  Yang Chen,et al.  An Inter-comparison of Three Heat Wave Types in China during 1961–2010: Observed Basic Features and Linear Trends , 2017, Scientific Reports.

[35]  Zhiwei Wu,et al.  A comparison of heat wave climatologies and trends in China based on multiple definitions , 2017, Climate Dynamics.

[36]  P. Stott,et al.  Human Influence on the 2015 Extreme High Temperature Events in Western China , 2016 .

[37]  Yuming Guo,et al.  Impact of heatwave on mortality under different heatwave definitions: A systematic review and meta-analysis. , 2016, Environment international.

[38]  N. Ramankutty,et al.  Influence of extreme weather disasters on global crop production , 2016, Nature.

[39]  Zongjian Ke,et al.  Characteristics and changes of regional wet and dry heat wave events in China during 1960–2013 , 2015, Theoretical and Applied Climatology.

[40]  F. Geng,et al.  Heat wave impact on mortality in Pudong New Area, China in 2013. , 2014, The Science of the total environment.

[41]  G. Xue.  A gridded daily observation dataset over China region and comparison with the other datasets , 2013 .

[42]  Y. Zhang,et al.  Extreme Climate in China: Facts, Simulation and Projection , 2012 .

[43]  G. Brooke Anderson,et al.  Heat Waves in the United States: Mortality Risk during Heat Waves and Effect Modification by Heat Wave Characteristics in 43 U.S. Communities , 2010, Environmental health perspectives.

[44]  Steven C. Sherwood,et al.  An adaptability limit to climate change due to heat stress , 2010, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

[45]  S. Hajat,et al.  Heat stress and public health: a critical review. , 2008, Annual review of public health.

[46]  Rupa Basu,et al.  Relation between elevated ambient temperature and mortality: a review of the epidemiologic evidence. , 2002, Epidemiologic reviews.

[47]  P. Sen.  Estimates of the Regression Coefficient Based on Kendall's Tau , 1968 .