Is called thermal stress And it is the response of our body to increasingly extreme climatic conditions. An invisible threat to health, more insidious than the temperature marked by the thermometer, that the statistics bind to tens of thousands of deaths every year in Europe. Today, for the first time, a powerful scientific tool with public access It allows you to measure and view this risk. It is Thermal Trace, the new application of the European space program Copernicus That, Analyzing 80 years of climatic datareveals the real impact that waves of heat and frost have on our well -being.
The atmospheric temperature data, alone, is a partial indicator of the physiological risks for humans. It is now scientifically ascertained that factors like humidity, ventilation And solar irradiation They are decisive in defining the real impact of heat and cold on the body. To fill this information gap, Thermal Trace is based onUniversal thermal climatic index (Utci), a bio-metalological parameter that calculates the “perceived temperature” by the human body. This index provides an objective measure of the stress to which the body is subjected to maintain its thermal stability.
The urgency of a similar tool is confirmed by the data. According to the report “European State of the Climate 2024“, Only in 2023 about 48,000 deaths in Europe was attributed to the heat.” Thermal stress is a critical problem that, in some cases, can literally become a matter of life or death, “he explained Chiara Cagnazzoscientific manager of Copernicus Climate Change Service. “Thermal Trace and the set of data we have published can be a useful resource for the general public, political decision makers, journalists and scientists to understand it better, monitor the past and prepare for the future”.
How it works
Thermal Trace works like a vast historical-climate archivedrawing on data that cover a period of over 80 years, from 1940 up to five days from the current date. Users can view through maps And graphic the evolution of thermal stress in any location on the planet. For example, it is possible to analyze the number of days with “strong heat stress” recorded in Rome in 2023 (96) or reconstruct the thermal anomalies of the exceptional winter of 1962-63, known as the “great ice cream”.
“Heat waves are becoming more and more widespread, frequent and intense,” added the scientist Rebecca Emeroncoordinator of the development of the application. “Thermal Trace encourages the exploration of maps and graphics relating to hot and cold stress all over the world in an easy to use app, fast and free with splendid views”.
It is important to specify that the tool does not provide weather forecasts, for which competence remains of national weather services. Thermal Trace was conceived as a resource of analysis and awareness, to allow citizens and institutions to understand the scope of an often invisible risk and to contextualize current events in a long -term climatic perspective.
