Mapping the thermal bioclimate of Austria for health and recreation tourism (original) (raw)
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Assessing climate for tourism purposes: Existing methods and tools for the thermal complex
… Biometeorology, Commission on Climate Tourism …, 2001
The most important direct effects of climate on tourism occur at the micro scale. These effects are significant for both the tourism industry and the holiday makers themselves, but they are also of importance to the planning and design of tourism buildings, recreation facilities and a variety of other issues. With some modification, existing methods for assessing climate in human biometeorology can be used for the tourism climatology. For example, thermal indices that are derived from the energy balance of the human body can be useful here. The problem is that input environmental data required for these schemes rather specialized and usually not available. Standard climate data are air temperature, air humidity and wind speed. However, the most important environmental parameters for deriving modern thermal indices are the short and long wave radiation (and the derived mean radiant temperature). These can be determined using special techniques. The RayMan model that has been developed for urban climate studies is presented here. It is shown that this can be a helpful tool for the assessment of tourism and climate related questions. Sample analysis are presented and discussed.
Rayman: a tool for tourism and applied climatology
2007
The "RayMan" model presented here is developed to calculate short wave and long wave radiation fluxes that affect the human body. "RayMan" estimates the radiation fluxes and the effects of clouds on short and long wave radiation fluxes. The model, which takes complex building structures into account, is suitable for various planning purposes in different micro to regional levels. The final output of the model is the calculated mean radiant temperature, which is required in the human energy balance model and, thus, also for the assessment of thermal bioclimate. It is also relevant for thermal indices that facilitate the human-biometeorological assessment of the thermal component of the climate.
Atmospheric conditions and human thermal comfort in urban areas
2000
Climate and air quality must be taken into account in urban and regional planning at regional level in a manner which is relevant to human health and well being. In view of the combined effects of atmospheric conditions on man, thermal, air quality and actinic factors are particularly important in preventive planning.
Development and application of assessment methods for thermal bioclimate conditions in Stuttgart
The complex region of Stuttgart, located in the south-westerly part of Germany, favours warm and humid climate accompanied by a low wind speed. Stuttgart lies in a Keuper sink and is surrounded by hills, a fact, which enforces the specific formation of these thermal and air quality conditions. The Urban Heat Island (UHI) of Stuttgart and its spatial distribution should be assessed using human-biometeorological methods. The most important and popular indices, Physiologically Equivalent Temperature (PET) and Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI) are applied and compared. The spatial variability of the thermal bioclimate in Stuttgart is mainly governed by differences mostly in wind speed. UTCI and PET show the largest differences in the very low and high ranges due to different scaling to thermal perception and clothing models. But also in the range of thermal response, they might differ by one range in the thermo-physiological assessment scale.
Seasonal and spatial distribution of physiologically equivalent temperature (PET) index in Hungary
Quarterly Journal of the Hungarian …, 2009
The aim of this study is to present a thermal human bioclimate analysis of Hungary by means of mapping, useing multiple linear regressions. The present study links geographical information with climatological data in order to generate a spatial distribution of PET values of a region. The distribution of average PET values of seasons are drawn at 1 km resolution. Meteorological data used to draw the maps was made with the help of data collation program at the Climatic Research Unit (University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK). The calculation of PET is performed with the aid of the RayMan model, which calculates the measures of the thermal human bioclimate. The calculated PET values show that the difference between the highest and lowest temperature areas is between 7-11 ºC. This means two comfort level differences generally. The winter is an exception, when the whole country can be rated to the same physiological stress level. 222 responses on the human body. Several models and indices were created in the last decades to describe this mechanism and quantify thermo-physiological phenomenon occurring in the human body (VDI, 1998).
Thermal bioclimate conditions in the alpine regions of Austria
2005
Data of 46 climate stations located from 1000 m to 3105 m a.s.l. were used to describe the thermal human bioclimate conditions in the alpine regions of Austria. Austria possesses a dense network of climate stations with daily measurements and observations of air temperature, relative humidity, wind velocity and mean cloud cover at 7, 14 and 19 LMT . To show the special climate conditions in alpine regions the behaviour of this parameters in relationship to the human energy balance is used to give a description of the effect of the thermal environment on humans. The importance of topography leading to inversions during the cold seasons and clothing resistance to modify the individual thermal bioclimate will be shown exemplarily.
Applications of the Universal Thermal Climate Index UTCI in Biometeorology, 2021
In operational weather forecasting standard environmental parameters, such as air temperature and humidity, are traditionally used to predict thermal conditions in the future. These parameters, however, are not enough to describe the thermal stress induced by the outdoor environment to the human body as they neglect the human heat budget and personal characteristics (e.g. clothing). The Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI) overcomes these limitations by using an advanced thermo-physiological model coupled with a state-of-the-art clothing model. Several systems have been recently developed to operationally forecast human biometeorological conditions via the UTCI, i.e. by computing UTCI from the forecasts of air temperature, humidity, wind speed and radiation as provided by numerical weather prediction models. Here we describe the UTCI-based forecasting systems developed in Czech Republic, Italy, Poland, Portugal and at the pan-European scale. Their characteristics are illustrated a...