Development of a Region-Specific Heatwave Crisis Alert System for Climate Change Adaptation: A Data-Driven Approach for Adaptive Risk Management in the Republic of Korea

As climate change intensifies, heatwaves are increasingly recognized as climate disasters that pose serious threats to public safety and health. The current national heatwave crisis alert system in the Republic of Korea, which is based solely on perceived temperature, fails to reflect regional climatic variations. To address this issue, the Republic of Korea has developed a new heatwave crisis alert system based on the Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT); however, its uniform criteria cause confusion in practical applications. This study introduces a region-specific heatwave crisis alert system tailored to the environmental conditions in the Republic of Korea using meteorological data from 65 nationwide observational stations spanning 30 years, from 1994 to 2023. Analysis of the daily mean, maximum, and minimum temperatures reveals distinct regional heatwave patterns. Based on these results, a three-tier alert system—Caution, Warning, and Severe—is introduced, incorporating both the WBGT and the number of days exceeding the 30-year average to improve the accuracy. Heat wave events that happened in 2019 and 2022 were used for validation and confirmed the effectiveness of the new system in capturing regional differences and enhancing alert reliability. This approach provides a scientific and policy-relevant foundation for public health protection and climate change adaptation, while supporting efforts to reduce the socioeconomic impacts of extreme heat.