Occurrence of Heat Waves with Reanalysis Data in Areas of the Northeast, Amazon and Central-Southeast of Brazil

Abstract

The warming of the climate system is a fact. This phenomenon has a global impact on human life and its activities. Observations point to an average warming of 1.01 °C and the causes show the anthropogenic contribution, such as the burning of fossil fuels and derivatives, as well as activities related to the indiscriminate use of land. As a consequence of this warming, there are more conditions for the occurrence of extreme weather events, such as heat waves, droughts and floods, which have been more recurrent and devastating. This study aims to diagnose the occurrence of heat waves, and their seasonal aspects, over parts of the Northeast region of Brazil (NEB) between 1991-2020, comparing with areas of the central-west, north and west sectors of the Amazon (AMAZ) and parts of the Center-West/Southeast region of Brazil (SUDE). The results showed that the effects of global warming on these regions in recent decades are unequivocal. In the interannual variability of 1991-2020, and in its seasons, there was an increase in the number of favorable days and cases of occurrence of heat waves, regardless of the performance in days, as well as waves of 3, 4, 5 and 6 days after the 2000s in all regions analyzed, more evident in AMAZ and NEB.

Keywords
heat waves; climate changes; warm global