Global Climate Risks for Outdoor Sports Under CMIP6 Scenarios

This repository contains the processed climate indicators used in the study “Global Climate Risks for Outdoor Sports Under CMIP6 Scenarios: A Multi-Indicator Assessment Based on WBGT, Heat Index, Heavy Rainfall, and Heatwaves”.

The dataset provides gridded, impact-oriented indicators designed to quantify climate-related constraints on outdoor sport under historical and future climate conditions. Indicators were computed from bias-corrected daily CMIP6 projections from the NASA NEX-GDDP-CMIP6 dataset at 0.25° spatial resolution. Results are provided for the historical baseline period 1991–2020 and two future 30-year periods, 2031–2060 and 2071–2100, under SSP2-4.5 and SSP5-8.5.

The repository includes three main indicators:

1. Heat Index (HI): number of dangerous heat days, defined as days with Heat Index greater than or equal to 40 °C. This indicator captures combined heat and humidity conditions associated with severe apparent-temperature stress.

2. Heavy rainfall days (RR20mm): number of days with daily precipitation greater than or equal to 20 mm day⁻¹. This indicator is used to represent rainfall-related constraints on outdoor sport, including surface degradation, disruption of play, and increased risk of event cancellation or postponement.

3. Heatwave days (HW): number of days belonging to heatwave events, defined as sequences of at least three consecutive days with daily maximum temperature greater than or equal to 35 °C. This indicator captures cumulative thermal stress and multi-day periods during which repeated training, competition, recovery, and event organisation may be constrained.

The indicators are aggregated by season, with separate outputs for boreal summer (JJA) and austral summer (DJF), and by 30-year analysis period. The dataset also includes derived values used to construct the Sport Climate Risk Index (SCRI), where applicable. The SCRI combines the normalized multi-hazard indicators into a composite index ranging from 0 to 1, with higher values indicating stronger combined climatic constraints on outdoor sport.

These processed files constitute the minimal dataset required to reproduce the main results, maps, summary statistics, and figures reported in the manuscript. The associated analysis scripts and workflow are archived separately as a Zenodo software release.