IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v16y2019i5p762-d210492.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Mining Social Media to Identify Heat Waves

Author

Listed:
  • Francesca Cecinati

    (Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering, University of Bath, Bath BA2 7AY, UK)

  • Tom Matthews

    (Department of Geography and Environment, Loughborough University, Loughborough, Leicestershire LE11 3TU, UK)

  • Sukumar Natarajan

    (Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering, University of Bath, Bath BA2 7AY, UK)

  • Nick McCullen

    (Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering, University of Bath, Bath BA2 7AY, UK)

  • David Coley

    (Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering, University of Bath, Bath BA2 7AY, UK)

Abstract

Heat waves are one of the deadliest of natural hazards and their frequency and intensity will likely increase as the climate continues to warm. A challenge in studying these phenomena is the lack of a universally accepted quantitative definition that captures both temperature anomalies and associated mortality. We test the hypothesis that social media mining can be used to identify heat wave mortality. Applying the approach to India, we find that the number of heat-related tweets correlates with heat-related mortality much better than traditional climate-based indicators, especially at larger scales, which identify many heat wave days that do not lead to excess mortality. We conclude that social media based heat wave identification can complement climatic data and can be used to: (1) study heat wave impacts at large scales or in developing countries, where mortality data are difficult to obtain and uncertain, and (2) to track dangerous heat wave events in real time.

Suggested Citation

  • Francesca Cecinati & Tom Matthews & Sukumar Natarajan & Nick McCullen & David Coley, 2019. "Mining Social Media to Identify Heat Waves," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(5), pages 1-19, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:16:y:2019:i:5:p:762-:d:210492
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/5/762/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/5/762/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kim Knowlton & Suhas P. Kulkarni & Gulrez Shah Azhar & Dileep Mavalankar & Anjali Jaiswal & Meredith Connolly & Amruta Nori-Sarma & Ajit Rajiva & Priya Dutta & Bhaskar Deol & Lauren Sanchez & Radhika , 2014. "Development and Implementation of South Asia’s First Heat-Health Action Plan in Ahmedabad (Gujarat, India)," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-20, March.
    2. John R. Nairn & Robert J. B. Fawcett, 2014. "The Excess Heat Factor: A Metric for Heatwave Intensity and Its Use in Classifying Heatwave Severity," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-27, December.
    3. Jakob Zscheischler & Seth Westra & Bart J. J. M. Hurk & Sonia I. Seneviratne & Philip J. Ward & Andy Pitman & Amir AghaKouchak & David N. Bresch & Michael Leonard & Thomas Wahl & Xuebin Zhang, 2018. "Future climate risk from compound events," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 8(6), pages 469-477, June.
    4. Jakob Zscheischler & Seth Westra & Bart J. J. M. Hurk & Sonia I. Seneviratne & Philip J. Ward & Andy Pitman & Amir AghaKouchak & David N. Bresch & Michael Leonard & Thomas Wahl & Xuebin Zhang, 2018. "Author Correction: Future climate risk from compound events," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 8(8), pages 750-750, August.
    5. Tiffany Smith & Benjamin Zaitchik & Julia Gohlke, 2013. "Heat waves in the United States: definitions, patterns and trends," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 118(3), pages 811-825, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Kerstin K. Zander & Jonas Rieskamp & Milad Mirbabaie & Mamoun Alazab & Duy Nguyen, 2023. "Responses to heat waves: what can Twitter data tell us?," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 116(3), pages 3547-3564, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Weiqing Han & Lei Zhang & Gerald A. Meehl & Shoichiro Kido & Tomoki Tozuka & Yuanlong Li & Michael J. McPhaden & Aixue Hu & Anny Cazenave & Nan Rosenbloom & Gary Strand & B. Jason West & Wen Xing, 2022. "Sea level extremes and compounding marine heatwaves in coastal Indonesia," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-12, December.
    2. Lena I. Fuldauer & Scott Thacker & Robyn A. Haggis & Francesco Fuso-Nerini & Robert J. Nicholls & Jim W. Hall, 2022. "Targeting climate adaptation to safeguard and advance the Sustainable Development Goals," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-15, December.
    3. Zhang, Yitong & Hao, Zengchao & Zhang, Yu, 2023. "Agricultural risk assessment of compound dry and hot events in China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 277(C).
    4. J. J. Wijetunge & N. G. P. B. Neluwala, 2023. "Compound flood hazard assessment and analysis due to tropical cyclone-induced storm surges, waves and precipitation: a case study for coastal lowlands of Kelani river basin in Sri Lanka," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 116(3), pages 3979-4007, April.
    5. Kuik, Onno & Zhou, Fujin & Ciullo, Alessio & Brusselaers, Jan, 2022. "How vulnerable is Europe to severe climate-related natural disasters abroad? A dynamic CGE analysis of the international financial and economic impacts of a large hurricane in the southern USA," Conference papers 333438, Purdue University, Center for Global Trade Analysis, Global Trade Analysis Project.
    6. Haidong Zhao & Lina Zhang & M. B. Kirkham & Stephen M. Welch & John W. Nielsen-Gammon & Guihua Bai & Jiebo Luo & Daniel A. Andresen & Charles W. Rice & Nenghan Wan & Romulo P. Lollato & Dianfeng Zheng, 2022. "U.S. winter wheat yield loss attributed to compound hot-dry-windy events," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-9, December.
    7. Isabel Dorado-Liñán & Blanca Ayarzagüena & Flurin Babst & Guobao Xu & Luis Gil & Giovanna Battipaglia & Allan Buras & Vojtěch Čada & J. Julio Camarero & Liam Cavin & Hugues Claessens & Igor Drobyshev , 2022. "Jet stream position explains regional anomalies in European beech forest productivity and tree growth," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-10, December.
    8. Veruska Muccione & Thomas Lontzek & Christian Huggel & Philipp Ott & Nadine Salzmann, 2023. "An application of dynamic programming to local adaptation decision-making," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 119(1), pages 523-544, October.
    9. Thomas, J. & Brunette, M. & Leblois, A., 2022. "The determinants of adapting forest management practices to climate change: Lessons from a survey of French private forest owners," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    10. Arthur Moses & Jean E. T. McLain & Aminata Kilungo & Robert A. Root & Leif Abrell & Sanlyn Buxner & Flor Sandoval & Theresa Foley & Miriam Jones & Mónica D. Ramírez-Andreotta, 2022. "Minding the gap: socio-demographic factors linked to the perception of environmental pollution, water harvesting infrastructure, and gardening characteristics," Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Springer;Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences, vol. 12(3), pages 594-610, September.
    11. Sitong Yang & Shouwei Li & Xue Rui & Tianxiang Zhao, 2024. "The impact of climate risk on the asset side and liability side of the insurance industry: evidence from China," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 57(3), pages 1-51, June.
    12. Mahshid Ghanbari & Mazdak Arabi & Matei Georgescu & Ashley M. Broadbent, 2023. "The role of climate change and urban development on compound dry-hot extremes across US cities," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-12, December.
    13. Luke J. Harrington & Carl-Friedrich Schleussner & Friederike E. L. Otto, 2021. "Quantifying uncertainty in aggregated climate change risk assessments," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-10, December.
    14. Zhang, Yu & Hao, Zengchao & Feng, Sifang & Zhang, Xuan & Hao, Fanghua, 2022. "Changes and driving factors of compound agricultural droughts and hot events in eastern China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 263(C).
    15. Lusheng Li & Lili Zhao & Yanbin Li, 2023. "Spatiotemporal Characteristics of Meteorological and Agricultural Droughts in China: Change Patterns and Causes," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-16, January.
    16. Stefan Hochrainer-Stigler & Qinhan Zhu & Karina Reiter & Alessio Ciullo, 2023. "Challenges of instruments that should tackle multi-hazard and multi-risk situations: an assessment of the recent reforms of the European Solidarity Fund and the Solidarity and Emergency Aid Reserve," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 28(8), pages 1-16, December.
    17. Fekete, Alexander & Fuchs, Sven & Garschagen, Matthias & Hutter, Gérard & Klepp, Silja & Lüder, Catharina & Neise, Thomas & Sett, Dominic & von Elverfeldt, Kirsten & Wannewitz, Mia, 2022. "Adjustment or transformation? Disaster risk intervention examples from Austria, Indonesia, Kiribati and South Africa," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    18. Roberto L. Salomón & Richard L. Peters & Roman Zweifel & Ute G. W. Sass-Klaassen & Annemiek I. Stegehuis & Marko Smiljanic & Rafael Poyatos & Flurin Babst & Emil Cienciala & Patrick Fonti & Bas J. W. , 2022. "The 2018 European heatwave led to stem dehydration but not to consistent growth reductions in forests," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-11, December.
    19. Prager, Steven D. & Wiebe, Keith D., 2022. "Strategic foresight in One CGIAR: Gaps and needs in approaches and capacity," Other briefs January 2022, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    20. Anton Orlov & Anne Sophie Daloz & Jana Sillmann & Wim Thiery & Clara Douzal & Quentin Lejeune & Carl Schleussner, 2021. "Global Economic Responses to Heat Stress Impacts on Worker Productivity in Crop Production," Economics of Disasters and Climate Change, Springer, vol. 5(3), pages 367-390, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:16:y:2019:i:5:p:762-:d:210492. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.