'Outdoor days,' a new measure, describes climate change impacts by noting the number of days per year that outdoor temperatures are comfortable enough for normal outdoor activities.
The findings are described in a research paper written by MIT professor of civil and environmental engineering Elfatih Eltahir and postdocs Yeon-Woo Choi and Muhammad Khalifa, and published in theEltahir says he got the idea for this new system during his hourlong daily walks in the Boston area."That's how I interface with the temperature every day," he says. He found that there have been more winter days recently when he could walk comfortably than in past years.
After deciding that this was a way of looking at the issue of climate change that might be useful, Eltahir says,"we started looking at the data on this, and we made several discoveries that I think are pretty significant." When we think of climate change, Eltahir says, we tend to look at maps that show that virtually everywhere, temperatures will rise."But if you think in terms of outdoor days, you see that the world is not flat. The North is gaining; the South is losing."
Placing this kind of detailed and localized information at people's fingertips, he says,"I think brings the issue of communication of climate change to a different level." With this tool, instead of looking at global averages,"we are saying according to your own definition of what a pleasant day is, how climate change is going to impact you, your activities."