ClimApp

Translating climate service information into personalized adaptation strategies to cope with thermal climate stress

Apr 12

Written By Ubåt

Translating climate service information into personalized adaptation strategies to cope with thermal climate stress

Summary

Climate change has increased the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events. Heat waves and cold spells have severe health consequences as it is increasing deaths and illnesses. Heat and cold also affect the productivity of millions of European workers. Improvements in climate services are therefore necessary in order to help minimise the negative impact of these events. However, the impact of heat and cold stress on health and productivity are dependent not only on climate factors, but also on human thermal regulation capacity, heat acclimatization, work intensity, clothing, etc. For the purpose of warning and preparedness, weather forecasts will be more valuable if combined with individual characteristics and translated into personalized adaptation strategies.

Objectives of the project are
1. to develop a mobile phone App that integrates climate forecast data and individual characteristics into human thermal models,
2. to provide a user-friendly and interactive mobile tool, and
3. to improve decision-making for adaptation strategies when facing climate challenges.

Research partners

Lund University, Sweden
University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Technical University of Denmark, Denmark
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Awards

ClimApp was awarded by World Meteorological Organization (WMO) International Weather Apps Awards 2020:

Category 1 - Awards for innovation and promotion of the use of weather and climate information for development:
Honorable mention in Sub-category 2 - Award for Originality and Innovation.

Timeframe of the project

2017 – 2021

Funding source

ClimApp project is a part of ERA4CS, an ERA-NET initiated by JPI Climate, and funded by FORMAS (SE, grant 2017-01739), IFD (DK, case 7110-00003B), NWO (NL, grant 438.17.806) with co-funding by the European Union (Grant 690462).