Topic
Extreme Cold
About: Extreme Cold is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 362 publications have been published within this topic receiving 9896 citations.
Papers published on a yearly basis
1 / 2
Papers
TL;DR: It is shown that droughts and extreme heat significantly reduced national cereal production by 9–10%, whereas the analysis could not identify an effect from floods and extreme cold in the national data, which may help to guide agricultural priorities in international disaster risk reduction and adaptation efforts.
Abstract: In recent years, several extreme weather disasters have partially or completely damaged regional crop production. While detailed regional accounts of the effects of extreme weather disasters exist, the global scale effects of droughts, floods and extreme temperature on crop production are yet to be quantified. Here we estimate for the first time, to our knowledge, national cereal production losses across the globe resulting from reported extreme weather disasters during 1964-2007. We show that droughts and extreme heat significantly reduced national cereal production by 9-10%, whereas our analysis could not identify an effect from floods and extreme cold in the national data. Analysing the underlying processes, we find that production losses due to droughts were associated with a reduction in both harvested area and yields, whereas extreme heat mainly decreased cereal yields. Furthermore, the results highlight ~7% greater production damage from more recent droughts and 8-11% more damage in developed countries than in developing ones. Our findings may help to guide agricultural priorities in international disaster risk reduction and adaptation efforts.
2,982 citations
University of London1, University of Queensland2, Nagasaki University3, RMIT University4, Harvard University5, Spanish National Research Council6, Queensland University of Technology7, Umeå University8, Yale University9, National Taiwan University10, Fudan University11, Seoul National University12, University of São Paulo13, University of Tsukuba14
TL;DR: Most of the temperature-related mortality burden was attributable to the contribution of cold, and the effect of days of extreme temperature was substantially less than that attributable to milder but non-optimum weather.
2,347 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a number of climate models representing possible future climate states have been used to predict weather and climate extremes, such as a greater frequency of extreme warm days and lower frequency of extremely cold days associated with a warmer mean climate, a decrease in diurnal temperature range associated with higher nighttime temperatures, increased precipitation intensity, midcontinent summer drying, decreasing daily variability of surface temperature in winter, and increasing variability of northern midlatitude summer surface temperatures.
Abstract: Projections of statistical aspects of weather and climate extremes can be derived from climate models representing possible future climate states. Some of the recent models have reproduced results previously reported in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Second Assessment Report, such as a greater frequency of extreme warm days and lower frequency of extreme cold days associated with a warmer mean climate, a decrease in diurnal temperature range associated with higher nighttime temperatures, increased precipitation intensity, midcontinent summer drying, decreasing daily variability of surface temperature in winter, and increasing variability of northern midlatitude summer surface temperatures. This reconfirmation of previous results gives an increased confidence in the credibility of the models, though agreement among models does not guarantee those changes will occur. New results since the IPCC Second Assessment Report indicate a possible increase of extreme heat stress events in a warm...
669 citations
TL;DR: It is confirmed in a large sample of cities that both cold and hot temperatures increase mortality risk and that population acclimatisation to heat is still incomplete, suggest that increases in heat-related mortality due to global warming are unlikely to be compensated for by decreases in cold- related mortality.
Abstract: Objectives: The authors examined the increase in mortality associated with hot and cold temperature in different locations, the determinants of the variability in effect estimates, and its implications for adaptation. Methods: The authors conducted a case-crossover study in 50 US cities. They used daily mortality and weather data for 6 513 330 deaths occurring during 1989–2000. Exposure was assessed using two approaches. First, the authors determined exposure to extreme temperatures using city-specific indicator variables based on the local temperature distribution. Secondly, they used piecewise linear variables to assess exposure to temperature on a continuous scale above/below a threshold. Effects of hot and cold temperature were examined in season-specific models. In a meta-analysis of the city-specific results, the authors examined several city characteristics as effect modifiers. Results: Mortality increases associated with both extreme cold (2-day cumulative increase 1.59% (95% CI 0.56 to 2.63)) and extreme heat (5.74% (95% CI 3.38 to 8.15)) were found, the former being especially marked for myocardial infarction and cardiac arrest deaths. The increase in mortality was less marked at less extreme temperatures. The effect of extreme cold (defined as a percentile) was homogeneous across cities with different climates, suggesting that only the unusualness of the cold temperature (and not its absolute value) had a substantial impact on mortality (that is, acclimatisation to cold). Conversely, heat effects were quite heterogeneous, with the largest effects observed in cities with milder summers, less air conditioning and higher population density. Adjustment for ozone led to similar results, but some residual confounding could be present due to other uncontrolled pollutants. Conclusions: The authors confirmed in a large sample of cities that both cold and hot temperatures increase mortality risk. These findings suggest that increases in heat-related mortality due to global warming are unlikely to be compensated for by decreases in cold-related mortality and that population acclimatisation to heat is still incomplete.
545 citations
TL;DR: It is demonstrated that the area of mangrove forests has doubled at the northern end of their historic range on the east coast of Florida, and a temperature-related ecological threshold of −4°C is identified, suggesting that landscape-scale increases in mangroves area may occur in other regions where this threshold is crossed.
Abstract: Regional warming associated with climate change is linked with altered range and abundance of species and ecosystems worldwide. However, the ecological impacts of changes in the frequency of extreme events have not been as well documented, especially for coastal and marine environments. We used 28 y of satellite imagery to demonstrate that the area of mangrove forests has doubled at the northern end of their historic range on the east coast of Florida. This expansion is associated with a reduction in the frequency of “extreme” cold events (days colder than −4 °C), but uncorrelated with changes in mean annual temperature, mean annual precipitation, and land use. Our analyses provide evidence for a threshold response, with declining frequency of severe cold winter events allowing for poleward expansion of mangroves. Future warming may result in increases in mangrove cover beyond current latitudinal limits of mangrove forests, thereby altering the structure and function of these important coastal ecosystems.
512 citations
Related Topics (5)
Performance Metrics
| Year | Papers |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 20 |
| 2024 | 31 |
| 2023 | 66 |
| 2022 | 78 |
| 2021 | 43 |
| 2020 | 27 |