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Climate change has caused an increased occurrence of heat waves. As a result of rising temperatures, implications for health and the environment have been more frequently reported. Outdoor labour activities deserve special attention, as is the case with agricultural and construction workers exposed to extreme weather conditions, including intense heat. This paper presents an overview of heat stress conditions in Brazil from 1961 to 2010. It also presents computer‐simulated projections of heat stress conditions up to the late 21st century. The proposed climate analysis drew on historical weather data obtained from national weather stations and on reanalysis data, in addition to future projections with the ETA (regarding the model's unique vertical coordinate) regional forecast model. The projections took into consideration two Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP)—the 4.5 and 8.5 climate scenarios, namely, moderate and high emissions scenarios, respectively. Heat stress was inferred based on the wet‐bulb globe temperature (WBGT) index. The results of this climate analysis show that Brazilian outdoor workers have been exposed to an increasing level of heat stress. These results suggest that future changes in the regional climate may increase the probability of heat stress situations in the next decades, with expectations of WBGT values greater than those observed in the baseline period (1961–1990). In terms of spatial distribution, the Brazilian western and northern regions experienced more critical heat stress conditions with higher WBGT values. As a response to the increased frequency trends of hot periods in tropical areas, urgent measures should be taken to review public policies in Brazil. Such policies should include actions towards better working conditions, technological development to improve outdoor labour activities, and employment legislation reviews to mitigate heat impacts on occupational health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Brazilian Cerrado biome is the largest and richest tropical savanna in the world. In order to understand the effects of climate changes on the hydrology of the Cerrado basins, this paper investigates the hydrological impacts of climate change throughout the 21st century under different emissions scenarios on the streamflow and on the droughts in the Sono, Manuel Alves da Natividade and Palma basins, located in the Brazilian Cerrado. For this purpose, the SWAT hydrological model driven by the downscaling of the HadGEM2‐ES and MIROC5 global climate models associated with RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 scenarios were used in three time slices (2011–2040, 2041–2070 and 2071–2099). The Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) and the Standardized Streamflow Index (SSFI) were used to characterize droughts. In general, the results showed that the duration, intensity and frequency of the meteorological and hydrological droughts are expected to increase during the future periods. However, the hydrological droughts are projected to be larger than the meteorological droughts. Reductions in the streamflow are indicated in all future time slices and under both RCPs, especially, during dry periods, which may cause negative impacts in the ecological functions of the Cerrado biome, risk for reduction of the recharge of aquifers and risk for the electric energy production in northern Brazil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Montane climates are shaped by high spatial variability that depends on net radiation and synoptic weather, and much on elevation and topographic features of terrain. We measured near‐ground meteorological variables using a weather station network during 14 months, in a valley‐shaped basin in southeast Brazil, to address the spatiotemporal climate variability at the meso‐γ atmospheric scale. The terrestrial climatic gradients were evident in the cross‐valley direction of the basin, where the valley tended to warm/wet up at day and cool/dry down at night relatively from the slopes. The temperature at noon showed high variability and decreased at a mean gradients of about −0.7 °C (100 m)−1. The nocturnal air temperature increased with height up to a maximum at about 200 m (the thermal belt), and showed seasonal rates higher/less in dry/wet season of +1.1/+0.2 °C (100 m)−1 over the full altitude. The vapour pressure decreased from the valley bottom upwards, in general below −0.5 hPa (100 m)−1, whereas the wind speed increased at a rate of 0.9 m s−1 (100 m)−1. We noted significant differential warming along the valley and mountain sides. The middle valley was circumstantially colder at night and warmer at daytime, relatively to the upper catchment, under mean magnitudes below 1.0 °C. The west slope at upper catchment was slightly warmer at night, and colder in the afternoon, at magnitudes below 0.5 °C, highlighting the control of hills' aspect at daytime, and the sheltering to flow aloft in east side. The cross‐valley gradients appeared to be well associated with local circulation, where downslope wind and positive temperature gradients, as well as upslope wind and negative temperature gradients strictly coexisted during the morning. The terrestrial gradients and the thermal circulation were in general dampened by cloudiness and mechanical mixing. This paper presents the spatiotemporal variability of near‐surface temperature, specific humidity and wind across the landscape of a mesoscale basin in southeast Brazil. We show the daily and seasonal variation of climatic gradient across the catchment and the characteristics of the thermally driven wind circulation and highlighted the influence of the topography and synoptic weather conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]