Context
The Minimum Temperature Index is relevant to human health, agriculture and biodiversity. It indicates the temperature of the coldest day of a period, typically of the year, but also over a particular season or month. This Index is part of the Cold spell and frost Hazard type of the Heat and Cold category of the classification.
A lower value indicates lower temperatures and thus more cold stress on people and the environment.
Definition
The minimum value of daily minimum temperature over a period (°C).
In weather and climate models temperature is the variable simulating atmospheric air temperature at 2m above the surface. This Index is usually presented as annual, seasonal or monthly values over a reference period.
Data Sources
The data was assembled on behalf of the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) based on climate projections hosted on the C3S Climate Data Store (CDS). The Index is calculated from the ERA5 reanalysis and a set of nine bias-corrected multi-model simulations from the EURO-CORDEX experiment. These simulations have a spatial resolution of 0.25°x0.25°, a 3-hourly output, and cover scenarios RCP4.5 and RCP8.5. More information about the dataset can be found in the corresponding CDS documentation resources.
Supporting Information
Further information about this application can be found in the ECDE application User Guide and the Data and datasets underpining the ECDE.
More information can also be found on other sections of the EEA site:
- The Index based interactive EEA report: Heat and Cold - Frost days (link)