Uncertainties in characterising historical heatwaves in Europe
Abstract
Heatwaves are periods of excessively hot weather which can pose a threat to both the
people and the agriculture affected by them, for this reason it is important for us to
understand and be able to predict heatwaves. This study will therefore investigate historical
heatwaves in Europe and compare the quality of different 2m surface temperature datasets
and examine the possibility of using 3D temperature data to identify heatwaves. This was
achieved by comparing different temperature datasets and evaluating their uncertainty at
different temperature and pressure levels. The results show that there is uncertainty
between datasets when looking at 2m surface temperatures, this uncertainty also grows at
more extreme temperatures such as those experienced during heatwaves. The report also
shows that one possible culprit for this uncertainty is the urban heat island, and as such
raises the value of evaluating maximum & minimum temperatures further in future studies.
Additionally, the 3D temperature data was found to be impossible to compare accurately due
to significant differences in the datasets. It was also found that with the datasets used for this
study it was not possible to improve the quality of identification for heatwaves using 3D
temperature data.
Degree
Student essay
Collections
View/ Open
Date
2023-08-18Author
Abrahamsson, Simon
Series/Report no.
B1268
Language
eng