Climate index

J. E. Hansen et at., A Common-Sense Climate Index Is Climate Changing Noticeably Proa Natl. Sci. 95 (1998) 4115-20. 

Feistel, R., Hagen, E., Grant, K., 2003. Climatic changes in the subtropical Southeast Atlantic the St. Helena Island climate index (1893-1999). Progress in Oceanography, 59, 321-337. 

Hagen, E., Agenbag, J. J., Feistel, R., 2005. The winter St. Helena climate index and extreme Benguela upwelling. Journal of Marine Systems, 57, 219-230. 

The file wbix annually.txt contains the annual values of the Baltic Sea Winter Climate Index (WIBIX) 1859-2002 for the description of the so-called regime shifts proposed by Hagen and Feistel (2005). More details about the WIBIX and the Girs data are discussed in Chapter 5. 

A climate category defined by three weighted climatic indexes, namely, mean annual heat, precipitation, and atmospheric moisture. 

Several attempts have been made to include the physical climatic parameters (temperature, wind, relative humidity, and radiation) in one single climatic index. The most common combinations are discussed below. 

A more complex and well-known climatic index is the Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT), used as a heat stress indicator. The WBGT is a composite temperature used to estimate the effect of temperature, humidity, and solar radiation on humans. It is used by industrial hygienists, athletes, and the military to determine appropriate exposure levels to high temperatures. It is derived from the following formula ... 

A relatively new initiative is the Universal Thermal Climatic Index (UTCI) (www. utci.org). Thermal strain is estimated with a thermal model based on input of climatic parameters. For any combination of air temperature, wind, radiation, and humidity... 

World Meteorologcal Organization http //www.wmo.int/pages/ themes/climate/ index en.php... 

Calcium—In general, calcium (as CaCOs) below 800 ppm should not result in calcium sulfate scale. In arid climates, however, the critical level may be much lower. For calcium carbonate scaling tendencies, calculate the Langelier Saturation Index or the Ryznar Stability Index. 

Thus, the Martonne aridity index defines not only climatic parameters but also vegetational ones. Seasonality of precipitation is another climatic factor that affects desert and steppe boundaries. For a given mean annual temperature, the boundary of a steppe will extend into wetter climates if its precipitation falls mainly in the summer. This is because summer evapotranspiration depletes soil moisture more thoroughly than winter evapotranspiration. For similar reasons, the size of a desert will be larger if its precipitation falls in the summer rather than in the winter (Monger et al., 2004). 

Stern, N., Stern Review The Economics of Climate Change, http //www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/ independent reviews/stern review economics climate change/sternreview index.cfm, April 29, 2007. 

Wallace, D., Capture and Storage of C02—What Needs to Be Done, Proceedings of the 6th Conference of the Parties, COP 6, to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, The Hague, The Netherlands, November 13-24,2000, www.iea.org/envissu/index.htm, 2000. 

Cliver, E. W., V. Boriakoff, and J. Feynman, Solar Variability and Climate Change Geomagnetic aa Index and Global Surface Temperature, Geophys. Res. Lett., 25, 1035-1038 (1998). 

---