nexustandards.com/hazards · 4 taught
Hazards and Disaster Risk Reduction
NRS-H5 Thermal extremes; NRS-H10 Water deficit
4standards1discipline
Illustrative: a fire front spreading fastest downwind over hill terrain, embers and the smoke plume
Risk Academy, led by the Nexus Consortium · Hazards, Disasters and Resilience · Department of Hazard Science
Heatwaves, drought types and indices, wildfire and smoke
Heat, drought and wildfire
Heat, drought and wildfire are the hazards of the warm, dry end of the climate system.
- Department
- Department of Hazard Science
- Courses
- In preparation
- Levels
- In development
- Labs
- Map lab, Trigger lab, Exposure lab, Network lab, GeoAI lab, Geo quiz
- Heatwaves and heat stress
- Drought types and indices
- Drought monitoring and early warning
- Wildfire behaviour and fire weather
- Wildfire smoke and health
- Heat action plans
- Urban heat islands
- Compound heat and drought
Courses in development extend the scope to further subjects: Wildfire risk management; Heat-health action planning.
02Maps
Build a twin of any place
Search any place or open the world; the layers and generators follow heat, drought and wildfire on the planet map, the globe and in 3D.
- Terrain 59 to 3,044 m
- 2 reference earthquakes, M7.5 to M7.8
- 3,643,786 people in the box, 2020
- Earthquakes M4.5 and above, past week: read live when the 3D twin opens
- USGS ShakeMap intensity contours: read live when the 3D twin opens
Drag to move, right drag or Shift with a drag to turn and tilt, Ctrl with the wheel to zoom. Keyboard: arrows move, Shift with arrows turn and tilt, + and – zoom, 0 resets, V steps through the views, Escape clears.
Flat plan of the same data: relief, the two epicentres with magnitude and depth, the WorldPop count grid and the numbers below. The 3D twin opens on devices that can draw it, once its data and code have been checked.
The boundaries, names and designations shown do not imply any judgement on the legal status of any territory, or any endorsement or acceptance of such boundaries. Countries: Natural Earth (public domain).
03Live map
Water now in Iberia
Rain, flood water and root-zone soil moisture from NASA satellites and models, with long-term water stress, over Iberia.
The interactive map needs JavaScript; the layer list and sources are below.
Layers 2
Water now
Keyboard, with the map focused
Hold Ctrl or ⌘ and scroll to zoom
Latest available
NASA GIBS / EOSDIS · ASTER GDEM (METI, NASA) · Blue Marble (NASA) · © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL) · Natural Earth
Loading the latest NASA imagery.
Drag to move. Ctrl or ⌘ and scroll, pinch or the buttons to zoom; hover for the values under the pointer; reset returns to the region.
Water now, framed on Iberia.Satellite and model products as NASA publishes them, each with its own date. They are indicators, not assessments of any place.
Data: NASA GIBS · ASTER GDEM · Blue Marble · © OpenStreetMap contributors · Natural Earth · NASA EONETSources and licences
- We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- GPM IMERG precipitation, NASA Precipitation Processing System; distributed by the NASA Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC); imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- VIIRS near-real-time products (flood, land surface temperature, snow cover, corrected reflectance), NASA LANCE; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- SMAP Level 4 soil moisture and snow mass, NASA Global Modeling and Assimilation Office; distributed by the NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center DAAC; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- GRACE and GRACE-FO JPL mascon solution, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory; distributed by the NASA Physical Oceanography DAAC (PO.DAAC); imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- GHRSST Level 4 MUR analyses, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory; distributed by the NASA Physical Oceanography DAAC (PO.DAAC); imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- ASTER GDEM is a product of METI and NASA (ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model V003, NASA LP DAAC); imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). Cite as: NASA/METI/AIST/Japan Spacesystems and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team (2019). ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model V003. doi:10.5067/ASTER/ASTGTM.003. NASA open data
- Made with Natural Earth. Free vector and raster map data @ naturalearthdata.com. Public domain
- © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), via NASA GIBS (coastlines, boundaries, roads and place names). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). ODbL
- Blue Marble, NASA Earth Observatory; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- Context on the globe and flat map: coastlines, boundaries, roads and place names from NASA GIBS reference layers (OpenStreetMap data, ODbL, © OpenStreetMap contributors); Blue Marble imagery as an optional base; 3D terrain and the elevation read-out from the ASTER GDEM elevation colour index (5 m to 200 m classes, exaggerated for legibility). Boundaries are drawn as published and imply no position on any territory.
- Globe: MapLibre GL JS 6.9.1, BSD-3-Clause, © MapLibre contributors.
- Live events: NASA Earth Observatory Natural Event Tracker (EONET); events are indicative and keep their original source links.
- NASA GIBS: We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS).
- River discharge forecast, 30 days with range (GloFAS via Open-Meteo): Contains modified Copernicus Emergency Management Service information 2026; not a flood warning.
- Past year, daily temperature (ERA5 via Open-Meteo): Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
- Past year, daily temperature and sunshine (NASA POWER): These data were obtained from the NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) POWER Project funded through the NASA Earth Science/Applied Science Program..
- Weather data by Open-Meteo.com (https://open-meteo.com/), licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
- Optional layers (13 sources in the layer list: live, forecast, observed and context) print their provider credit on the map and here when switched on; forecasts are model output and derived indices are estimates.
Layers and dates
- Precipitation rate, daily mean: GPM IMERG, NASA GES DISC · 12 Oct 2026
- Flood water, 3-day composite: VIIRS Global Flood Product, NASA LANCE · 14 Oct 2026
- Root-zone soil moisture, 0 to 100 cm: SMAP Level 4, NASA NSIDC DAAC · 11 Oct 2026
- Snow cover: VIIRS NOAA-20 NDSI, NASA LANCE · 13 Oct 2026
- Water storage anomaly, monthly: GRACE-FO JPL mascons, NASA JPL PO.DAAC · July 2022
- Sea surface temperature anomaly: GHRSST MUR25, NASA JPL PO.DAAC · 12 Oct 2026
- True colour: VIIRS NOAA-20 corrected reflectance, NASA LANCE · 13 Oct 2026
04The subject
The subject, methods and measures and debates and bodies
The field and its scope
For public health officers, water managers, fire agencies, agricultural analysts and planners who monitor heat, drought and fire danger and need to know what each index measures and what it leaves out.
Quantities and units
Methods and their limits
Each method is listed with what it assumes and where it fails.
What the field debates
Bodies that set practice, and the data they publish
Bodies and standards are named so learners can find and apply their published work; the Academy teaches their use and links to the publisher, and no affiliation is implied.
05The method
From a forecast temperature to a heat-health alert: how humidity, an exposure-response curve and a baseline turn heat into excess deaths
Air temperature and humidity combine into an apparent temperature; an exposure-response curve from mortality time series gives the relative risk for each degree above the minimum-mortality temperature; the city's baseline deaths turn that risk into excess deaths; a threshold turns the number into an alert level.
Sources: Gasparrini et al., Mortality risk attributable to high and low ambient temperature: a multicountry observational study (2015); Perkins and Alexander, On the measurement of heat waves (2013); Mora et al., Global risk of deadly heat (2017); Bureau of Meteorology, Thermal comfort observations: apparent temperature (2010).
06Signature
How heat, drought and wildfire connects the sectors
Select corners to build a signature, then hover a line to read what each sector gives and receives.
Select corners · hover lines6 / 15 relations
Context
Heatwave
Cooling demand peaks the grid while rivers warm; heat stress fills hospitals and wilts crops.
W · E · I · F · H · B
- Sectors
- 4 of 6
- Relations
- 6 of 15
- Coupling
- 0.43 share of total
Strongest relations in play
- Water → Energy · cooling water and hydropower0.6
- Water → Food · irrigation0.8
- Food → Health · nutrition0.7
- Water → Health · drinking water and sanitation0.7
07At a glance
At a glance, with 5 related topics
Heat, drought and wildfire at a glance
risksacademy.comhazards-resiliencediscipline
- Open, 0
- In preparation, 2
- Also taught here, 10
- Subtopics, 8
Nexus Standards it teaches and relies on
The Nexus Standards the discipline teaches toward, grouped by master standard, with the disciplines that teach each.
nexustandards.com/climate · 2 taught
Climate and Earth Systems
NRS-H24 Vegetation and peat fire; NRS-X1 Climate change risk and adaptation
2standards1discipline
Nexus Standards at the AcademyThe Academy proposes how each discipline teaches toward the Nexus Standards; the mapping is open for public review.
Research and tools
Research and preprints as they are published, by discipline, with the faculty's other tools.
The hub lists the newest research and preprints for Heat, drought and wildfire, each with its source and date. Open the research hub
Hazard families it covers
From the Academy's risk taxonomy: the discipline's own entries and those of its primary courses, with how many courses teach each.
Hazard families
- Droughtscope
- Extreme heatscope
- Wildfirescope
What is changing now
Recent developments in heat, drought and wildfire, each with its source; sources checked on 16 October 2026.
Courses in this discipline
Courses for this discipline are in development; until they open, study it through the connected courses and open lessons below.
The courses from connected disciplines below also teach this field.
Courses from connected disciplines that also teach this field
Each course has its primary discipline elsewhere and teaches this field as part of its scope.
08Labs
How the subject is practised in labs
09Console
How Heat, drought and wildfire is taught, as a process you can run
Press Play to run this process from this page's own data.
10Practice
Practice, learning and connections
How technology helps and what risk it brings
Achievements in this discipline
Pathways that teach it
Where the subject is practised
The three Foundry systems where it is practised
Disciplines it depends on
Across the ecosystem
11Take part
Take part in Hazards, Disasters and Resilience
Start from who you are.
12References
Core references and where to begin
Start with Wilhite, then Gasparrini, then Perkins.
13Questions
Questions, answers and key terms
Is study here free?
Yes. Every course and learning material of Risk Academy, led by the Nexus Consortium, is free to study, self-paced or with a cohort. Ordinary participation has no fee; paid work, internships and fellowships are separate arrangements.
What does completing a course give me?
A completion record: the course, its version, the date and what was assessed, private by default and shared by you. It stacks into discipline, department and programme achievements. A record states what was studied and assessed and does not certify competence; it is not a licence, a professional title or an employment status.
Where do the data and the places come from?
Every faculty teaches on a twin of a real place built from open data; each layer carries its provider, licence and date, and every result on the Academy states its source. Maps and figures are indicators for teaching, never an assessment of a place.
How do I take part beyond the courses in heat, drought and wildfire?
Form a competence cell of three to seven people, study a shared pathway, take a supervised assignment in the National Working Groups, or bring a cohort from your institution. For organisations.
Key terms
Term
Wet-bulb globe temperature
A heat stress index that combines temperature, humidity, wind and radiation.
Term
Standardized Precipitation Index
A drought index that expresses rainfall over a period as departures from the local long-term record.
ReportsContribute
Contribute evidence from this page.
Reports is the Consortium's quarterly publication. What you know about this subject can become evidence, a case or a correction in the next edition, credited to you and published under CC BY 4.0 where it is your own work.
Risk Academy
Related
Around Heat, drought and wildfire
Heat, drought and wildfire
Start with an open course
The catalogue lists each course with its outcomes, labs, hours and level.