Accelerated western European heatwave trends linked to more-persistent double jets over Eurasia
Leibniz Association · Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research · +7 more institutions
Abstract
Persistent heat extremes can have severe impacts on ecosystems and societies, including excess mortality, wildfires, and harvest failures. Here we identify Europe as a heatwave hotspot, exhibiting upward trends that are three-to-four times faster compared to the rest of the northern midlatitudes over the past 42 years. This accelerated trend is linked to atmospheric dynamical changes via an increase in the frequency and persistence of double jet stream states over Eurasia. We find that double jet occurrences are particularly important for western European heatwaves, explaining up to 35% of temperature variability. The upward trend in the persistence of double jet events explains almost all of the accelerated…
Citation impact
- FWCI
- 50.72
- Percentile
- 100%
- References
- 67
Authors
5- EREfi RousiCorresponding
Leibniz Association, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research
- KKKai Kornhuber
Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Earth Island Institute, Leibniz Association, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Columbia University
- GBGoratz Beobide‐Arsuaga
Universität Hamburg, Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law
- FLFei Luo
Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
- DCDim Coumou
Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute, Leibniz Association, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Topics & keywords
- Geography