Analysis of temporal variability and spatial characteristics of heat waves in Central Europe using extremity index
Abstract
Heat waves have severe consequences on natural environment and society. The majority of studies defined heat waves from station data only, so there is a need to examine these events not only from the aspect of point characteristics of air temperature and duration, but also from the view of their spatial extent.
In this study, heat waves over Central Europe were analysed using the gridded E-OBS dataset. The extremity index of heat waves, which takes into account their spatial extent, duration, and peak temperature, was proposed and used to analyse variability of heat waves over Central Europe from 1950 to present.
We delimited 220 hot days and 21 heat waves and computed the extremity index for each heat wave. The eight most significant heat waves based on the extremity index were visualized.
Temporal variability of hot days and heat waves was analysed and we demonstrate that the number of hot days and the severity of heat waves have been increasing.