The world is heating up, and it's threatening habitability in many regions around the equator.
have found the human body might not be able to cope with as much heat and humidity as this index indicates.But at 100 percent humidity, newNevertheless, on the traditional Heat Index, temperatures are considered dangerous when they exceed 40 °C and extremely dangerous when they exceed 51 °C.
These are the thresholds the current study used to predict habitability in the future, and there's a good chance they are an underestimation of what is to come.Between 1979 to 1998, the dangerous Heat Index threshold was exceeded in the tropics and subtropics on 15 percent of the days each year.Sadly, the same can't be said of today, and the problem is only getting worse.
By 2050, in tropical regions, the dangerous Heat Index could be exceeded on 50 percent of the days each year. By 2100, it could be exceeded on most days. What's more, about 25 percent of those days could be so hot, they could exceed extremely dangerous thresholds. "It is likely that, without major emissions reductions, large portions of the global tropics and subtropics would experience Heat Index levels higher than considered 'dangerous' for a majority of the year by the end of the century," the authors"Without adaptation measures, this would greatly increase the incidence of heat-related illnesses and reduce outdoor working capacity in many regions where subsistence farming is important.
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