Oladapo OLAGBEGI, South African National Bioinformatics Institute, University of the Western Cape, South Africa, South Africa
Romaric C. ODOULAMI, African Climate and Development Initiative, University of Cape Town , South Africa
Sawadogo WINDMANAGDA , Institute of Geography, University of Augsburg, Germany
Olumuyiwa OLONIYO, Climate Systems Analysis Group, Department of Environmental and Geographical Science, University of Cape , South Africa, South Africa
Babatunde ABIODUN, Climate Systems Analysis Group, Department of Environmental and Geographical Science, University of Cape , South Africa, South Africa
The average global temperature is expected to exceed 1.5oC by the end of the century due to climate change. As the global average temperature rises, more extreme weather conditions are projected to occur, posing more risk to human health, and increasing future health challenges. While previous studies have shown that stratospheric aerosol injection (SAI) intervention could mitigate temperature-related climate change impacts over Africa, there is a lack of information on how the SAI intervention could alter impacts of climate change on heat stress and related discomfort in Africa. This study therefore examined the potential impact of SAI on heat stress and human discomfort in Africa at various global warming levels. Multi climate simulations from a climate model were analysed in the study and Humidity Index (HDI) was used to quantify the degree of human discomfort. This is an ongoing study. The preliminary results revealed that the current high level of human discomfort across the continent (with a peak in the tropics) would worsen under the SSP45 future climate projection. The implementation of SAI is projected to lower the impact of global warming on the discomfort index over most parts of Africa but enhance it over the Mediterranean region, Congo DRC and Angola. The study indicates that the magnitude of SAI impact on human discomfort, which depends on the targeted global warming levels, varies across the geopolitical zones in Africa.
Mots clés : Geoengineering|Human Discomfort|Humidity Index|Global warming|Africa
A103920OO