Regional variation in the role of humidity on city-level heat-related mortality
Guo, Qiang Mistry, Malcolm N Zhou, Xudong Zhao, Gang Kino, Kanon Wen, Bo Yoshimura, Kei Satoh, Yusuke Cvijanovic, Ivana Kim, Yoonhee
Guo, Qiang
Mistry, Malcolm N
Zhou, Xudong
Zhao, Gang
Kino, Kanon
Wen, Bo
Yoshimura, Kei
Satoh, Yusuke
Cvijanovic, Ivana
Kim, Yoonhee
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Series / Report no.
Open Access
Type
Article
Language
en
Date of publication
2024-07-25
Year of publication
Research Projects
Organizational Units
Journal Issue
Title
Regional variation in the role of humidity on city-level heat-related mortality
Translated Title
Published in
PNAS Nexus 2024; 3(8):pgae290
Abstract
The rising humid heat is regarded as a severe threat to human survivability, but the proper integration of humid heat into heat-health alerts is still being explored. Using state-of-the-art epidemiological and climatological datasets, we examined the association between multiple heat stress indicators (HSIs) and daily human mortality in 739 cities worldwide. Notable differences were observed in the long-term trends and timing of heat events detected by HSIs. Air temperature (Tair) predicts heat-related mortality well in cities with a robust negative Tair-relative humidity correlation (CT-RH). However, in cities with near-zero or weak positive CT-RH, HSIs considering humidity provide enhanced predictive power compared to Tair. Furthermore, the magnitude and timing of heat-related mortality measured by HSIs could differ largely from those associated with Tair in many cities. Our findings provide important insights into specific regions where humans are vulnerable to humid heat and can facilitate the further enhancement of heat-health alert systems.