Biometeorology

Research in the field of biometeorology is of great importance for society – for example, the development of early warning systems has contributed to reducing the health effects of temperature extremes in many parts of the world. There has been an increasing demand for biometeorological information among professionals and in general public, related also to the fact that climate change may increase frequency and intensity of many dangerous phenomena.

We study weather-related morbidity and mortality and differences in vulnerable populations in relation to changing levels of socio-economic and environmental deprivation as well as urbanization, and analyse spatial and temporal patterns of relationships between temperature extremes and mortality. A significant part of the research is related to comparison of methodological approaches in biometeorology. Our activities in this field have been broadened recently also by involvement within the Multi-Country Multi-City (MCC) collaborative research network, which allows the application of methodological procedures to data from different parts of the world and evaluation of regional and global patterns of the weather-to-health links.