{"id":75535,"date":"2021-10-05T11:58:27","date_gmt":"2021-10-05T09:58:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sonnenseite.com\/?p=75535"},"modified":"2021-10-05T11:58:28","modified_gmt":"2021-10-05T09:58:28","slug":"exposure-to-deadly-urban-heat-worldwide-has-tripled-in-recent-decades-says-study","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sonnenseite.com\/en\/environment\/exposure-to-deadly-urban-heat-worldwide-has-tripled-in-recent-decades-says-study\/","title":{"rendered":"Exposure to Deadly Urban Heat Worldwide Has Tripled in Recent Decades, Says Study"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A Fifth of World Population Is Affected; Many U.S. Cities on List<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A new study of more than 13,000 cities worldwide has found that the number of person-days in which inhabitants are exposed to extreme combinations of heat and humidity has tripled since the 1980s. The authors say the trend, which now affects nearly a quarter of the world\u2019s population, is the combined result of both rising temperatures and booming urban population growth. The study<\/a> was published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over recent decades, hundreds of millions have moved from rural areas to cities, which now hold more than half the world\u2019s population. There, temperatures are generally higher than in the countryside, because of sparse vegetation and abundant concrete, asphalt and other impermeable surfaces that tend to trap and concentrate heat\u2014the so-called urban heat island effect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis has broad effects,\u201d said the study\u2019s lead author, Cascade Tuholske, a postdoctoral researcher at Columbia University\u2019s Earth Institute. \u201cIt increases morbidity and mortality. It impacts people\u2019s ability to work, and results in lower economic output. It exacerbates pre-existing health conditions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u00a9 climate.columbia.edu\/ Annual municipality-level increases in the rate of urban population exposure to extreme heat, 1983-2016. (Adapted from Tuholske et al., PNAS, 2021)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n