The Potential Impacts of Climate Variability and Change on Health Impacts of Extreme Weather Events in the United States

Greenough, Gregg; McGeehin, Michael A.; Bernard, Susan M.; Trtanj, J.; Riad, Jasmin K.; Engelberg, David

doi:10.2307/3435009

Cited by 144 publications

(112 citation statements)

References 13 publications

(14 reference statements)

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“…This pattern existed only in the fall season. While the warning systems for extreme weather or environmental conditions focused generally more on the elderly, children, and those with low SES (Meehl et al 2000;Greenough et al 2001; US Department of the Environment et al 2004;Ebi and Schmier 2005), our results indicated that the vulnerable population for DTR may be extended to all residents regardless of their age or sex, at least in the fall season.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 56%

Modifiers of diurnal temperature range and mortality association in six Korean cities

2011

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Rapid temperature changes within a single day may be critical for populations vulnerable to thermal stress who have difficulty adjusting themselves behaviorally and physiologically. We hypothesized that diurnal temperature range (DTR) is associated with mortality, and that this association is modified by season and socioeconomic status (SES). We evaluated meteorological and mortality data from six metropolitan areas in Korea from 1992 to 2007. We applied generalized linear models (GLM) for quantifying the estimated effects of DTR on mortality after adjusting for mean temperature, dew point temperature, day of the week, and seasonal and long-term trends. Most areas showed a linear DTR-mortality relationship, with evidence of increasing mortality with increasing DTR. Deaths among the elderly (75 years or older), females, the less educated, and the non-hospital population were associated more strongly with DTR than with the corresponding categories. DTR was the greatest threat to vulnerable study populations, with greater influence in the fall season. DTR was found to be a predictor of mortality, and this relationship was modified by season and SES.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 56%

Modifiers of diurnal temperature range and mortality association in six Korean cities

2011

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“…The socioeconomic damages caused by prolonged or severe droughts are enormous. It is wellknown that the dust bowl in the American mid-west in the 1930s precipitated the disruption of agriculture and major human migration to the American west (Greenough et al 2001). In the globalized modern world, national economies are tightly linked with other nations' economies, and the damage caused by a drought in one region can affect the rest of the world.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Climate change impacts on spatial patterns in drought risk in the Willamette River Basin, Oregon, USA

Jung

Chang

2011

Theor Appl Climatol

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Climate change is likely to lead more frequent droughts in the Pacific Northwest (PNW) of America. Rising air temperature will reduce winter snowfall and increase earlier snowmelt, subsequently reducing summer flows. Longer crop-growing season caused by higher temperatures will lead to increases in evapotranspiration and irrigation water demand, which could exacerbate drought damage. However, the impacts of climate change on drought risk will vary over space and time. Thus, spatially explicit drought assessment can help water resource managers and planners to better cope with risk. This study seeks to identify possible drought-vulnerable regions in the Willamette River Basin of the PNW. In order to estimate drought risk in a spatially explicit way, relative Standardized Precipitation Index (rSPI) and relative Standardized Runoff Index (rSRI) were employed. Statistically downscaled climate simulations forcing two greenhouse gas emission scenarios, A1B and B1, were used to investigate the possible changes in drought frequency with 3-, 6-, 12-, and 24-month time scales. The results of rSPI and rSRI showed an increase in the short-term frequency of drought due to decreases in summer precipitation and snowmelt. However, long-term drought showed no change or a slight decreasing pattern due to increases in winter precipitation and runoff. According to the local index of spatial autocorrelation analysis, the Willamette Valley region was more vulnerable (hot spot) to drought risk than the mountainous regions of the Western Cascades and the High Cascades (cold spot). Although the hydrology of the Western Cascades and the High Cascades will be affected by climate change, these regions will remain relatively water-rich. This suggests that improving the water transfer system could be a reasonable climate adaptation option. Additionally, these results showed that the spatial patterns of drought risk change were affected by drought indices, such that appropriate drought index selection will be important in future studies of climate impacts on spatial drought risk.

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“…Global warming is a great concern to human populations, as it has been shown to bring many threats, such as heat waves and warmer weather, spreading disease, earlier spring arrival, plant and animal range shifts and population declines, sea level rise, and frequent disaster (Greenough et al 2001;Kahn 2005;Webster et al 2005;Shepherd and Wingham 2007;IPCC 2007). In order to evaluate whether current global warming is unprecedented or not, it is essential to put this warming into a long-term perspective.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Changing relationships between tree growth and climate in Northwest China

2008

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Recently, several studies have shown changing relationships between tree growth and climate factors, mostly in the circumpolar north. There, changing relationships with climate seem to be linked to emergent subpopulation behavior. Here, we test for these phenomena in Northwest China using three tree species (Pinus tabulaeformis, Picea crassifolia, and Sabina przewalskii) that had been collected from six sites at Qilian Mts. and Helan Mts. in Northwest China. We first checked for growth divergence of individual sites and then investigated the relationship between tree growth and climate factors using moving correlation functions (CF). Two species, Pinus and Sabina, from two sites clearly showed growth divergence, not only in the late twentieth century as reported in other studies, but also over nearly the whole record. In divergent sites, one chronology shows more stable relationships with climate factors (usually precipitation). In non-divergent sites, nearly all relationships either vary in strength or become non-significant at one point. While this might possibly be related to increased stress on some trees due to increasing temperature, the exact causes for this shift in sensitivity remain unclear. We would like to highlight the necessity for additional studies investigating possible non-stationary growth responses of trees with climate, especially at sites that are used for climate reconstruction as our sites in Northwest China.

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The Potential Impacts of Climate Variability and Change on Health Impacts of Extreme Weather Events in the United States

Cited by 144 publications

References 13 publications

Modifiers of diurnal temperature range and mortality association in six Korean cities

Modifiers of diurnal temperature range and mortality association in six Korean cities

Climate change impacts on spatial patterns in drought risk in the Willamette River Basin, Oregon, USA

Changing relationships between tree growth and climate in Northwest China

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