Effect of climate change on outdoor thermal comfort in humid climates

Abstract

BackgroundGalicia, in northwest Spain, experiences warm summers and winters. However, the higher relative humidity that prevails the whole year through and the location of the summer hot points are related to real weather heat stroke in the hottest season. However, Planet Global Heating was recently analyzed for the climate in Galicia. Climate change was found to be able to trigger effects that involve a new situation with new potential regions of risk. In this paper, 50 weather stations were selected to sample the weather conditions in this humid region, over the last 10 years. From these results, new regions with a potential for heat stroke risk in the next 20 years were identified using the humidex index.ResultsResults reveal that during the last 10 years, the winter season presents more comfortable conditions, whereas the summer season presents the highest humidex value. Further, the higher relative humidity throughout the whole year reveals that the humidex index clearly depends upon the outdoor temperature.ConclusionsGlobal Planet Heating shows a definite effect on the outdoor comfort conditions reaching unbearable degrees in the really hottest zones. Therefore, this effect will clearly influence tourism and risk prevention strategies in these areas.

Regulating the damaged thermostat of the cities—Status, impacts and mitigation challenges

“…In Gothenburg, Sweden [73], it is estimated that an increase of the mean radiant temperature in the city by 3.2 K expected to happen by the end of the century will triple the hours with strong or extreme heat stress. A similar study for Galicia, Spain [72], has estimated that during the next twenty years and because of the temperature increase, the average summer humidex comfort index will increase from 18 to 21, while extreme values may occur instantaneously. Finally, a similar study in Hong Kong [78], reported that because of the important increase of the ambient temperature a shift from 'No Thermal Stress' conditions to 'moderate Heat Stress' and 'Strong Heat Stress' is expected for the period 2046-2065.…”

“…Three other studies [72,73,78], have investigated the impact of future increase of ambient temperature caused by the global climate change on outdoor comfort. In Gothenburg, Sweden [73], it is estimated that an increase of the mean radiant temperature in the city by 3.2 K expected to happen by the end of the century will triple the hours with strong or extreme heat stress.…”

“…In particular, four main groups of studies may be identified. The first group involves articles investigating the spatial distribution of the thermal comfort conditions in a city trying to identify the impact of the local urban heat island [71,74], the second group includes articles evaluating the temporal variation of thermal comfort in a place because of the inter annual urban warming [70], the third group contains works reporting thermal comfort conditions during extreme weather conditions [75], while the last group covers studies investigating the future thermal comfort conditions in specific places because of the global warming [72,73].…”

“…Higher urban ambient temperatures increase discomfort conditions mainly during the summer period and have a serious impact on the physiological conditions of human beings both outdoors and indoors. Several studies have attempted to evaluate the specific impact of urban warming and the heat island on outdoor thermal comfort [70][71][72][73][74][75][76][77][78]. Existing investigations approach the subject from different perspectives.…”

A comprehensive study of parameters in physical environment that impact students’ focus during lecture using Internet of Things

“…The humidex combines temperature and humidity into one number to reflect the temperature perceived and represents a measure of thermal discomfort. As it considers the two most important factors that affect thermal comfort, it is a better method of measuring how hot a person really feels; more than either temperature or humidity alone (Orosa, Costa, Rodríguez-Fernández, & Roshan, 2014). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study where the influence of the humidex on students' focus is examined.…”