Intensification of compound temperature extremes by rapid urbanization under static and dynamic Urban-rural division: A comparative case study in Hunan Province, Central-South China

Abstract

Climate extremes, notably compound extremes, pose significant risks to human society and environmental systems. These extremes, heightened by urbanization—a hallmark of modern socioeconomic progression—inflict persistent, intense thermal conditions. The comprehension of urbanization's impact on compound temperature extremes, particularly in Central-South China, a region with rapid urbanization and a subtropical climate, remains limited. In addition, most existing studies relied on static urban-rural division, and few used dynamic division, with no research yet juxtaposing findings from both methods. Against this backdrop, this study provided an unprecedented assessment of urbanization's impact on both individual and compound temperature extremes in Central South China, focusing on Hunan Province during long-time period of 1960–2022 under both static and dynamic urban-rural divisions. In both urban and rural stations, a pronounced warming trend was evident across individual and compound temperature extremes. Besides, a tendency of independent day/night extremes shifting towards extremes spanning both was observed. Notably, the escalation of heat compound extreme temperature indices (ETIs) outpaces that of cold ones, with a larger urban-rural discrepancy under dynamic classifications. Urbanization intensifies temperature extremes, particularly affecting the reduction of independent cold days (30.97 %–33.94 %) and the increase in compound hot events (23.91 %–24.87 %). Interestingly, urbanization's impact is more substantial on independent daytime extremes than on independent nighttime ones. Urbanization's influence on ETIs was consistently observed under both static and dynamic classifications, with the latter revealing a more pronounced contribution (1 %–3 %), and the contribution to compound ETIs is 6 %–8 % higher than to individual ETIs. These findings emphasize the importance of considering urbanization's multifaceted impacts on climate strategies and underscore the need for adaptive infrastructure and sustainable practices to mitigate escalating climate risks.