Zhang et al. (2025) Comprehensive heatwave magnitude index considering the effect of indicator equilibrium

Identification

• Journal: Atmospheric Research
• Year: 2025
• Date: 2025-10-25
• Authors: Tongchang Zhang, Gang Deng, Xiuguo Liu, Yan He, Qihao Chen
• DOI: 10.1016/j.atmosres.2025.108591

Research Groups

• School of Geography and Information Engineering, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, China

Short Summary

This paper proposes a Comprehensive Heatwave Magnitude Index (CHMI) that integrates Group Utility and Equilibrium Utility to account for both aggregate impact and indicator equilibrium, revealing that high-magnitude heatwaves exhibit greater disequilibrium with distinct spatial patterns in dry versus wet regions.

Objective

• To develop and validate a Comprehensive Heatwave Magnitude Index (CHMI) that explicitly considers the equilibrium among heatwave characteristics (intensity, duration, frequency, spatial extent) to provide a more balanced and comprehensive evaluation of heatwave magnitude.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: Grid and regional scales, specifically in the arid Xinjiang (dry heatwaves) and the humid middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River (wet heatwaves), China.
• Temporal Scale: Analysis of historical heatwave events (specific period not provided in the excerpt).

Methodology and Data

• Models used: Comprehensive Heatwave Magnitude Index (CHMI) framework, integrating Group Utility and Equilibrium Utility with a reward-penalty mechanism.
• Data sources: Climate datasets from two contrasting climate regions (specific types of data, e.g., observational, reanalysis, not provided in the excerpt).

Main Results

• High-magnitude heatwaves exhibit greater disequilibrium among their characteristics.
• The spatial manifestation of disequilibrium varies systematically between dry and wet regimes: high-intensity events dominate in Xinjiang, while long-duration events prevail in the Yangtze region.
• The CHMI provides a more balanced and comprehensive metric for evaluating heatwave magnitude by explicitly incorporating equilibrium, enhancing its applicability for regional analysis and comparative studies.

Contributions

• Proposes a novel Comprehensive Heatwave Magnitude Index (CHMI) that integrates Group Utility and Equilibrium Utility, addressing the limitation of existing indices that assume complete compensability among indicators.
• Introduces a reward-penalty mechanism within CHMI to adjust for disequilibrium, improving sensitivity to heatwave events dominated by a single extreme characteristic.
• Offers a more balanced and comprehensive metric for evaluating heatwave magnitude, enhancing its utility for regional analysis and comparative studies by explicitly considering indicator equilibrium.

Funding

• Not specified in the provided text.

Citation

@article{Zhang2025Comprehensive,
  author = {Zhang, Tongchang and Deng, Gang and Liu, Xiuguo and He, Yan and Chen, Qihao},
  title = {Comprehensive heatwave magnitude index considering the effect of indicator equilibrium},
  journal = {Atmospheric Research},
  year = {2025},
  doi = {10.1016/j.atmosres.2025.108591},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosres.2025.108591}
}