Articles | Volume 26, issue 6
https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-26-2609-2026
https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-26-2609-2026
Research article
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04 Jun 2026
Research article | Highlight paper |  | 04 Jun 2026

Wikimpacts 1.0: a new global climate impact database based on automated information extraction from Wikipedia

Ni Li, Wim Thiery, Shorouq Zahra, Mariana Madruga de Brito, Koffi Worou, Murathan Kurfalı, Seppe Lampe, Paul Muñoz, Clare Flynn, Camila Trigoso, Joakim Nivre, Jakob Zscheischler, and Gabriele Messori

Data sets

Wikimpacts – A global climate impact database based on automated information extraction from Wikipedia Ni Li et al. https://doi.org/10.17043/li-2025-wikimpacts-1.0.final

Model code and software

VUB-HYDR/Wikimpacts: Wikimpacts v1.0.final Ni Li et al. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19428787

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Editorial statement
This study presents a novel global database, Wikimpacts 1.0, that leverages natural language processing and automated information extraction to systematically capture multi-scale socio-economic impacts of climate extremes over nearly a millennium. By demonstrating strong accuracy and complementary coverage to established datasets, it highlights the transformative potential of AI-driven approaches to expand, refine and democratize climate impact data for research and decision-making.
Short summary

Climate extremes threaten society and ecosystems, making impact understanding critical. Wikimpacts 1.0 provides an automated pipeline processing Wikipedia texts with underexploited information on climate impacts, yielding comprehensive socio-economic impact data for 2726 climate events from 1034–2024. It offers broader storm-related impacts and finer spatial resolution than established databases, showcasing natural language processing's potential to advance climate impact data.

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