Citation

Pantavou K, Chatzi E, Theoharatos G. Int. J. Biometeorol. 2014; 58(6): 1163-1173.

Affiliation

Department of Environmental Physics and Meteorology, Faculty of Physics, University of Athens, University Campus-Zografou, Building Physics 5, 157 84, Athens, Greece, kpantav@phys.uoa.gr.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2014, International Society of Biometeorology, Publisher Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s00484-013-0708-1

PMID

23917485

Abstract

Focusing on the understanding and the estimation of the biometeorological conditions during summer in outdoor places, a field study was conducted in July 2010 in Athens, Greece over 6 days at three different sites: Syntagma Square, Ermou Street and Flisvos coast. Thermo-physiological measurements of five subjects were carried out from morning to evening for each site, simultaneously with meteorological measurements and subjective assessments of thermal sensation reported by questionnaires. The thermo-physiological variables measured were skin temperature, heat flux and metabolic heat production, while meteorological measurements included air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, globe temperature, ground surface temperature and global radiation. The possible relation of skin temperature with the meteorological parameters was examined. Theoretical values of mean skin temperature and mean radiant temperature were estimated applying the MENEX model and were compared with the measured values. Two biometeorological indices, thermal sensation (TS) and heat load (HL)-were calculated in order to compare the predicted thermal sensation with the actual thermal vote. The theoretically estimated values of skin temperature were underestimated in relation to the measured values, while the theoretical model of mean radiant temperature was more sensitive to variations of solar radiation compared to the experimental values. TS index underestimated the thermal sensation of the five subjects when their thermal vote was 'hot' or 'very hot' and overestimated thermal sensation in the case of 'neutral'. The HL index predicted with greater accuracy thermal sensation tending to overestimate the thermal sensation of the subjects.

Language: en