Background information

Background Information

The Maximum Temperature Index is relevant to human health, agriculture and biodiversity. It indicates the temperature of the coldest day of a period, typically of the year, but also over a particular season or month. This Index is part of the Cold spell and frost Hazard type of the Heat and Cold category of the classification.

A higher value indicates higher temperatures and thus more heat stress on people and the environment.

Definition

The maximum value of daily maximum temperature over a period (°C).

In weather and climate models temperature is the variable simulating atmospheric air temperature at 2m above the surface. This Index is usually presented as annual, seasonal or monthly values over a reference period.

Data Sources The data was assembled on behalf of the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) based on climate projections hosted on the C3S Climate Data Store (CDS). The Index is calculated from a set of nine bias-corrected multi-model simulations from the EURO-CORDEX experiment. These simulations have a spatial resolution of 0.25° x 0.25°, a 3-hourly output, and cover scenarios RCP4.5 and RCP8.5. More information about the dataset can be found in the corresponding CDS documentation resources.

Supporting Information

Further information about this application can be found in the ECDE application User Guide and the Data and datasets underpining the ECDE.

More information can also be found on other sections of the EEA site:

  • The Index based interactive EEA report: Heat and Cold - Frost days (link)

Data download

The aggregated data shown on the map can be downloaded as csv files.

The application has an interactive map on the left side with a set of drop down menus to select the regions (NUTS, Transnational regions or Europe Zones), the time span (Year, Season or Month) and the emission scenario (RCP4.5 or RCP8.5). By clicking on the map, a scrolling panel appears on the right side displaying interactive plots corresponding to spatial and temporal averages over the selected region. Hover over the plots to see the values. Some plots show an uncertainty envelope representing the range of likely values, as defined by the IPCC, based on an ensemble of models (see FAQ).

Content in the European Climate Data Explorer pages is delivered by the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) implemented by ECMWF.

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This translation is generated by eTranslation, a machine translation tool provided by the European Commission.