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Heat waves in the United States: definitions, patterns and trends

Overview of attention for article published in Climatic Change, December 2012
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About this Attention Score

  • In the top 5% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age (99th percentile)
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age and source (96th percentile)

Mentioned by

news
31 news outlets
blogs
3 blogs
policy
1 policy source
twitter
19 X users
facebook
2 Facebook pages

Citations

dimensions_citation
246 Dimensions

Readers on

mendeley
266 Mendeley
citeulike
1 CiteULike
Title
Heat waves in the United States: definitions, patterns and trends
Published in
Climatic Change, December 2012
DOI 10.1007/s10584-012-0659-2
Pubmed ID
Authors

Tiffany T. Smith, Benjamin F. Zaitchik, Julia M. Gohlke

Abstract

High temperatures and heat waves are related but not synonymous concepts. Heat waves, generally understood to be acute periods of extreme warmth, are relevant to a wide range of stakeholders because of the impacts that these events have on human health and activities and on natural environments. Perhaps because of the diversity of communities engaged in heat wave monitoring and research, there is no single, standard definition of a heat wave. Experts differ in which threshold values (absolute versus relative), duration and ancillary variables to incorporate into heat wave definitions. While there is value in this diversity of perspectives, the lack of a unified index can cause confusion when discussing patterns, trends, and impacts. Here, we use data from the North American Land Data Assimilation System to examine patterns and trends in 15 previously published heat wave indices for the period 1979-2011 across the Continental United States. Over this period the Southeast region saw the highest number of heat wave days for the majority of indices considered. Positive trends (increases in number of heat wave days per year) were greatest in the Southeast and Great Plains regions, where more than 12 % of the land area experienced significant increases in the number of heat wave days per year for the majority of heat wave indices. Significant negative trends were relatively rare, but were found in portions of the Southwest, Northwest, and Great Plains.

X Demographics

X Demographics

The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 19 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 266 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
United Kingdom 1 <1%
Germany 1 <1%
Australia 1 <1%
Unknown 263 99%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Ph. D. Student 58 22%
Researcher 38 14%
Student > Master 31 12%
Student > Doctoral Student 15 6%
Student > Bachelor 14 5%
Other 38 14%
Unknown 72 27%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Earth and Planetary Sciences 52 20%
Environmental Science 45 17%
Engineering 23 9%
Social Sciences 12 5%
Agricultural and Biological Sciences 11 4%
Other 35 13%
Unknown 88 33%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 277. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 25 August 2021.
All research outputs
#130,042
of 25,595,500 outputs
Outputs from Climatic Change
#64
of 6,058 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#703
of 287,473 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Climatic Change
#3
of 54 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 25,595,500 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 99th percentile: it's in the top 5% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 6,058 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 22.6. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 98% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 287,473 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 99% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 54 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 96% of its contemporaries.