Wetbulb Globe Temperature

This dataset contains simplified WetBulb Globe Temperature (WBGT) at hourly frequency spanning from 1979 to 2022. The variables utilized for WBGT calculation include dry-bulb temperature, humidity, and surface pressure obtained from the ERA5 reanalysis. First, an isobaric wet-bulb temperature (Tw) is computed using these variables. Then the simplified WBGT is determined through the formula WBGT*= 0.7Tw+0.3Td. More details are described in "Dawei Li*, Jiacan Yuan*, and Robert E. Kopp (2020): Escalating global exposure to compound heat-humidity extremes with warming. Environmental Research Letters. DOI:10.1088/1748-9326/ab7d04". Please cite this article when using this dataset.

WBGT-ERA5-v2.0 is an updated version for WBGT-ERA5-v1.1. In the version of WBGT-ERA5-v1.1, an assumption was made that RH = q/qs, where saturation specific humidity (qs) was considered equal to the saturation mixing ratio rs. In the version of WBGT-ERA5-v1.2, we calculate RH and qs exactly following their original definitions: RH = e/es (where e is vapor pressure and es is saturated vapor pressure), and qs = rs/(1+rs). The updates will slightly improve the precision of the wet-bulb temperature estimation under high-temperature condition