Abstract
Increasing heat wave events have serious impacts on human health and even lead to mortality. In this study, we first come up with a definition for global heat wave, according to its two basic characteristics: abnormal high temperature and long duration. We initially map the intensity of heat wave and heat wave mortality risk at the global scale. The results show that: (1) regions with the highest heat wave temperature distribute near 20°N/S, including North Africa, West Asia, Central Asia, South Asia, and Oceania; (2) the longest heat wave days occur in Eastern Europe, West Asia, South Asia, North America, and parts of South America; (3) high heat wave mortality risk areas are relatively scattered, distributed mainly in South Asia, Europe, and eastern North America at the grid level.
Mapping Editors: Jing’ai Wang (Key Laboratory of Regional Geography, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China) and Fang Lian (School of Geography, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China).
Language Editor: Tao Ye (State Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes and Resource Ecology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China).
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Li, M., Liu, Z., Dong, W., Shi, P. (2015). Mapping Heat Wave Risk of the World. In: Shi, P., Kasperson, R. (eds) World Atlas of Natural Disaster Risk. IHDP/Future Earth-Integrated Risk Governance Project Series. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-45430-5_9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-45430-5_9
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