Where heat does not come in waves: a framework for understanding and managing chronic heat
Research on heat and its risks has focused on heat waves as an increasing emergency under climate change, but this emphasis has obscured the chronic—not just acute and episodic—exposure of billions of people globally to increasingly dangerous levels of heat. In many regions, predominantly in the glo...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IOP Publishing
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Environmental Research: Climate |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/2752-5295/adc827 |
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| author | Mayra Cruz Katharine J Mach Lynée L Turek-Hankins Kilan C Ashad-Bishop Zinzi D Bailey Scotney D Evans Ashley Fanning Margo Fernandez-Burgos Jane Gilbert Bereatha Howard Monique Mahabir Julia Marturano Lisa N Murphy Nkosi Muse Joanne Pérodin Amy C Clement |
| author_facet | Mayra Cruz Katharine J Mach Lynée L Turek-Hankins Kilan C Ashad-Bishop Zinzi D Bailey Scotney D Evans Ashley Fanning Margo Fernandez-Burgos Jane Gilbert Bereatha Howard Monique Mahabir Julia Marturano Lisa N Murphy Nkosi Muse Joanne Pérodin Amy C Clement |
| author_sort | Mayra Cruz |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Research on heat and its risks has focused on heat waves as an increasing emergency under climate change, but this emphasis has obscured the chronic—not just acute and episodic—exposure of billions of people globally to increasingly dangerous levels of heat. In many regions, predominantly in the global tropics, heat index exceeds a level of extreme caution according to the US National Weather Service (90°F, 32.2 °C) for more than an entire season and in some cases for much of the year. We propose chronic heat as an alternative framing for heat-related hazards in these regions and demonstrate how its risks differ and are incompletely captured by current heat–health research practices. Chronic heat poses unique risks compared to acute heat because the intersection of enduring societal- and individual-level factors leads to substantially divergent cumulative exposures over seasonal timeframes and associated health outcomes, quality-of-life impacts, and tradeoffs. These multiple interacting factors are difficult to tease out and attribute with traditional heat–health research practices, and therefore understanding of the impacts of chronic heat has remained poor. Further, managing chronic heat requires use of social services, programs, and partners not previously engaged in the context of heat, going beyond heat response as emergency management. Our chronic heat framework identifies a shift needed in heat research and practice to understand and address chronic and cumulative heat exposures increasingly experienced worldwide under intensifying climate change. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-a6f3a927554f4bde8a19fbcdf14eeb26 |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2752-5295 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Environmental Research: Climate |
| spelling | doaj-art-a6f3a927554f4bde8a19fbcdf14eeb262025-08-20T03:09:16ZengIOP PublishingEnvironmental Research: Climate2752-52952025-01-014202300210.1088/2752-5295/adc827Where heat does not come in waves: a framework for understanding and managing chronic heatMayra Cruz0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3922-0217Katharine J Mach1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5591-8148Lynée L Turek-Hankins2https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3356-3283Kilan C Ashad-Bishop3https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6846-3499Zinzi D Bailey4https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5708-3754Scotney D Evans5https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0897-0725Ashley Fanning6https://orcid.org/0009-0009-8948-389XMargo Fernandez-Burgos7https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4374-0490Jane Gilbert8https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7434-8910Bereatha Howard9Monique Mahabir10Julia Marturano11https://orcid.org/0009-0003-2140-3933Lisa N Murphy12https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4343-8005Nkosi Muse13https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3453-0862Joanne Pérodin14https://orcid.org/0009-0008-3776-027XAmy C Clement15Department of Environmental Science and Policy, Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science, University of Miami , Miami, FL, United States of America; Leonard and Jayne Abess Center for Ecosystem Science and Policy, University of Miami , Coral Gables, FL, United States of AmericaDepartment of Environmental Science and Policy, Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science, University of Miami , Miami, FL, United States of America; Leonard and Jayne Abess Center for Ecosystem Science and Policy, University of Miami , Coral Gables, FL, United States of AmericaThayer School of Engineering, Dartmouth College , Hanover, NH, United States of America; Neukom Institute , Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, United States of AmericaDepartment of Environmental Science and Policy, Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science, University of Miami , Miami, FL, United States of America; Leonard and Jayne Abess Center for Ecosystem Science and Policy, University of Miami , Coral Gables, FL, United States of AmericaDivision of Epidemiology & Community Health, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota , Minneapolis, MN, United States of AmericaDepartment of Educational and Psychological Studies, School of Education and Human Development, University of Miami , Coral Gables, FL, United States of AmericaDepartment of Atmospheric Sciences, Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science, University of Miami , Miami, FL, United States of AmericaDepartment of Educational and Psychological Studies, School of Education and Human Development, University of Miami , Coral Gables, FL, United States of AmericaMiami-Dade County, Office of Resilience , Miami, FL, United States of AmericaThe CLEO Institute , Miami, FL, United States of AmericaDepartment of Educational and Psychological Studies, School of Education and Human Development, University of Miami , Coral Gables, FL, United States of AmericaCity of Phoenix, Office of Heat Response and Mitigation , Phoenix, AZ, United States of AmericaDepartment of Atmospheric Sciences, Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science, University of Miami , Miami, FL, United States of AmericaDepartment of Environmental Science and Policy, Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science, University of Miami , Miami, FL, United States of America; Leonard and Jayne Abess Center for Ecosystem Science and Policy, University of Miami , Coral Gables, FL, United States of AmericaThe CLEO Institute , Miami, FL, United States of AmericaDepartment of Atmospheric Sciences, Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science, University of Miami , Miami, FL, United States of AmericaResearch on heat and its risks has focused on heat waves as an increasing emergency under climate change, but this emphasis has obscured the chronic—not just acute and episodic—exposure of billions of people globally to increasingly dangerous levels of heat. In many regions, predominantly in the global tropics, heat index exceeds a level of extreme caution according to the US National Weather Service (90°F, 32.2 °C) for more than an entire season and in some cases for much of the year. We propose chronic heat as an alternative framing for heat-related hazards in these regions and demonstrate how its risks differ and are incompletely captured by current heat–health research practices. Chronic heat poses unique risks compared to acute heat because the intersection of enduring societal- and individual-level factors leads to substantially divergent cumulative exposures over seasonal timeframes and associated health outcomes, quality-of-life impacts, and tradeoffs. These multiple interacting factors are difficult to tease out and attribute with traditional heat–health research practices, and therefore understanding of the impacts of chronic heat has remained poor. Further, managing chronic heat requires use of social services, programs, and partners not previously engaged in the context of heat, going beyond heat response as emergency management. Our chronic heat framework identifies a shift needed in heat research and practice to understand and address chronic and cumulative heat exposures increasingly experienced worldwide under intensifying climate change.https://doi.org/10.1088/2752-5295/adc827chronic heatcumulative exposureintersectional riskheat responses |
| spellingShingle | Mayra Cruz Katharine J Mach Lynée L Turek-Hankins Kilan C Ashad-Bishop Zinzi D Bailey Scotney D Evans Ashley Fanning Margo Fernandez-Burgos Jane Gilbert Bereatha Howard Monique Mahabir Julia Marturano Lisa N Murphy Nkosi Muse Joanne Pérodin Amy C Clement Where heat does not come in waves: a framework for understanding and managing chronic heat Environmental Research: Climate chronic heat cumulative exposure intersectional risk heat responses |
| title | Where heat does not come in waves: a framework for understanding and managing chronic heat |
| title_full | Where heat does not come in waves: a framework for understanding and managing chronic heat |
| title_fullStr | Where heat does not come in waves: a framework for understanding and managing chronic heat |
| title_full_unstemmed | Where heat does not come in waves: a framework for understanding and managing chronic heat |
| title_short | Where heat does not come in waves: a framework for understanding and managing chronic heat |
| title_sort | where heat does not come in waves a framework for understanding and managing chronic heat |
| topic | chronic heat cumulative exposure intersectional risk heat responses |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1088/2752-5295/adc827 |
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