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A comparison of heat wave climatologies and trends in China based on multiple definitions

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Abstract

Heat waves (HWs) can have disastrous impacts on human activities and natural systems, and are one of the current foci of scientific research, particularly in the context of global warming. However, there is no standard definition of a HW, which makes assessment of temporal trends a challenge. In this study, based on daily mean, maximum and minimum temperature, and relative humidity datasets from China Meteorological Administration, the patterns, trends and variations of HW in China during 1961–2014 are investigated. Sixteen previously published HW indices (HIs) are calculated, which are divided into two types using relative and absolute threshold temperatures, respectively. During 1961–2014, both relative and absolute threshold HIs show the highest number of HW in Jianghua and South China, geographically consistent with the climate characteristics of China. The majority of HIs shows negative/positive trends of HW days before/after 1990 over the whole of China, but especially in Jianghua and South China, which reflects rapid warming since 1990. There are significant correlations among different HIs in the same type (both absolute and relative), but correlations are weak between relative and absolute threshold HIs. Because relative and absolute HIs show contrasting trends, the choice of HI is therefore critical for future analysis

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Acknowledgments

This study is supported by the State Key Program of National Natural Science Foundation of China (41230528), Jiangsu Specially-Appointed Professor project and Jiangsu Natural Science Funds for Distinguished Young Scholar “BK20140047”, Six talent peaks project in Jiangsu Province (2015-JY-010); Opening Fund of Key Laboratory of Land Surface Process and Climate Change in Cold and Arid Regions, CAS) (LPCC201512) and Climate Change Special Funding (CCSF201614) from China Meteorological Bureau. This is the ESMC contribution Number 121. This study is also funded by “the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions” (PAPD).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Meteorological Disaster, Ministry of Education (KLME)/Joint International Research Laboratory of Climate and Environmental Change (ILCEC)/Collaborative Innovation Center on Forecast and Evaluation of Meteorological Disasters (CIC-FEMD)/Earth System Modeling Center, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology (NUIST), Nanjing, 210044, China

    Qinglong You, Zhihong Jiang, Lei Kong, Zhiwei Wu & Yutao Bao

  2. State Key Laboratory of Cryospheric Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, 730000, China

    Shichang Kang

  3. Department of Geography, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth, UK

    Nick Pepin

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  1. Qinglong You
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  2. Zhihong Jiang
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  4. Zhiwei Wu
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  7. Nick Pepin
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Correspondence to Qinglong You.

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You, Q., Jiang, Z., Kong, L. et al. A comparison of heat wave climatologies and trends in China based on multiple definitions. Clim Dyn 48, 3975–3989 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-016-3315-0

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