Data related to the quality of life and overall well-being of human populations including poverties, conflict, sanitation, and health.

human-well-being

Human Well Being

Stefanie Tye

### Overview  
  
The Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI) provides a metric that identifies outdoor conditions that cause discomfort to people. It uses a combination of temperature, humidity, wind, and radiation to determine the stress (sweating, shivering, skin wetness, etc.) a person undergoes when exposed to outdoor conditions. UTCI comes from the ERA5-HEAT (Human thErmAl comforT) dataset from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF). UTCI is shown in degrees Celsius and presented at a spatial resolution of 0.25 degrees by 0.25 degrees, which is approximately 28 km x 28 km at the equator but [changes with distance](https://www.thoughtco.com/degree-of-latitude-and-longitude-distance-4070616) from the equator.

UTCI is a metric that provides critical information on how humans perceive the outdoor conditions they’re exposed to, and has implications for human health and well being. Extremes in temperatures, such as cold spells and heatwaves, cause an increase in morbidity and mortality and knowing where and when these occur is imperative. The UTCI enables people to better prepare and cope with temperature extremes.

ECMWF is an operational research institution that produces weather forecasts and data. They implement the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) which provides free and accessible climate information and data for a wide range of users.  
  
### Methodology  
  
The ERA5-HEAT (Human thErmAL comforT) dataset comes from the ECMWF ERA5 reanalysis data, which combines model data with observations from around the globe. The merging of modeled data with observations allows for a globally consistent and complete dataset, both geographically and through time. ERA5-HEAT calculates the Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI), which is computed from air temperature, humidity, wind speed, and radiation. Outputs of UTCI are provided in Kelvin on an hourly basis and at 0.25 degrees spatial resolution.

UTCI is a metric that relates human comfort/discomfort levels to outdoor conditions. It is a standard developed by the European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) Action 730 in 2009. It describes the air temperature of a reference outdoor environment that would evoke strain on the human body. It is calculated by an algorithm that takes into account a number of environmental variables, namely air temperature and relative humidity at 2 meters above ground, wind speed at 10 meters above ground, and the Mean Radiant Temperature (MRT). UTCI outputs are calculated globally (with the exception of Antarctica) for each hour and are provided in Kelvin. Outputs from ERA5 are available 2 to 3 months behind real time and the UTCI is calculated and published on a monthly basis.

For the full documentation, please see the source [methodology](https://cds.climate.copernicus.eu/cdsapp#!/dataset/derived-utci-historical?tab=overview).  
  
### Additional Information  
  
Our data catalog shows only a subset of the dataset. Additional data for every year between 1979 and 2022 are available from the data provider. For access to the full dataset and additional information, click on the “Learn more” button.  
  
### Visualizing the Data  
  
Our team reformatted this dataset before displaying it on WRI’s data catalog. We converted the original units from Kelvin to Celsius and averaged over time. See the documentation on how we processed the data on [Github](https://github.com/resource-watch/data-pre-processing/tree/master/cli_079_rw0_universal_thermal_climate_index).  
  
### Disclaimer  
  
Excerpts of this description page were taken from the source metadata.

No Team

Universal Thermal Climate Index

2022 March Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI, °C)

2022 February Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI, °C)

2022 January Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI, °C)