The Global Centre for Risk and Innovation (GCRI)
Topics at Climate and Hazards: the pages in this section are listed below, each with its own scope and status.
The Climate and Hazards topics are the eight subject dossiers of its field, among them climate baselines, heat and drought, and flood and storm. Each dossier sets out how the risk develops, what is measured and in which units, the public sources and their licences, the methods, who decides and the limits of the evidence.
GCRI is a research, development and policy institution. It is not a regulator, and it does not certify, license or approve; its findings carry their methods and uncertainty.
The topics move from baselines and individual hazards (heat and drought, flood and storm, fire, geohazards) to compound hazards, projections and the services and warnings that deliver hazard knowledge.
Each term as this page uses it. Where a standard-setting body defines the term, the wording follows that body.
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Climate normal | An average of a climate variable over a standard thirty-year period, computed under WMO rules. |
| Heatwave | A period of abnormally hot weather relative to local conditions, defined by a threshold and minimum duration. |
| Return period | The average interval between events of a given size, the inverse of the annual exceedance probability. |
| Fire regime | The typical pattern of fire frequency, intensity, size and season in an area. |
| Seismic hazard | The probability of a level of ground shaking being exceeded at a site in a given time. |
The bodies and documents this page is read against. Status and editions change; each link goes to the issuing body.
Historical trends and reference periods.
TopicCompound heat and hydrologic stress.
TopicExtreme precipitation, coastal storm and flooding.
TopicFire weather, fuels and landscapes.
TopicEarthquakes, volcanoes and related hazards.
TopicMultiple and cascading events.
TopicScenario models, ensembles and uncertainty.
TopicForecast-to-user pathways and authority.
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