Sponsor
Financial support for this work was provided via the Urban Resilience to Extremes Sustainability Research Network under National Science Foundation grant AGS-1444755.
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
3-2018
Subjects
Natural disasters -- Research, Natural disasters -- Risk assessment, Emergency management, Interdisciplinary communication
Abstract
Extreme events are of interest worldwide given their potential for substantial impacts on social, ecological, and technical systems. Many climate-related extreme events are increasing in frequency and/or magnitude due to anthropogenic climate change, and there is increased potential for impacts due to the location of urbanization and the expansion of urban centers and infrastructures. Many disciplines are engaged in research and management of these events. However, a lack of coherence exists in what constitutes and defines an extreme event across these fields, which impedes our ability to holistically understand and manage these events. Here, we review 10 years of academic literature and use text analysis to elucidate how six major disciplines—climatology, earth sciences, ecology, engineering, hydrology, and social sciences—define and communicate extreme events. Our results highlight critical disciplinary differences in the language used to communicate extreme events. Additionally, we found a wide range in definitions and thresholds, with more than half of examined papers not providing an explicit definition, and disagreement over whether impacts are included in the definition.We urge distinction between extreme events and their impacts, so that we can better assess when responses to extreme events have actually enhanced resilience. Additionally, we suggest that all researchers and managers of extreme events be more explicit in their definition of such events as well as be more cognizant of how they are communicating extreme events. We believe clearer and more consistent definitions and communication can support transdisciplinary understanding and management of extreme events.
DOI
10.1002/2017EF000686
Persistent Identifier
https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/25989
Citation Details
McPhillips, Lauren E., Heejun Chang, Mikhail V. Chester, Yaella Depietri, Erin Friedman, Nancy B. Grimm, John S. Kominoski et al. "Defining Extreme Events: A Cross‐Disciplinary Review." Earth's Future 6, no. 3 (2018): 441-455.
Description
Originally appeared in Earth's Future, published by Wiley for the American Geophysical Union. Version of record may be found at https://doi.org/10.1002/2017EF000686.
© 2018 The Authors. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.