Indikator zur Quantifizierung der Wirksamkeit von Anpassungsmaßnahmen an Hitze im Freiraum

<p>Der grundsätzliche Zusammenhang zwischen dem mikroskaligen Klima einer Stadt, ihrer Struktur und Grünraumausstattung ist vielfach belegt. In Hinblick auf den Klimawandel stellt urbanes Grün eine wichtige Anpassungsmaßnahme (AM) an Hitze dar, dessen Bewahrung und Förderung bei gleichzeitiger baulicher Verdichtung eine stete Herausforderung ist. Vor dem Hintergrund der begrenzten personellen und finanziellen Ressourcen vieler Städte ist es daher wichtig, die Wirksamkeit verschiedener AM zu quantifizieren und zu bewerten, um passgenaue AM in Stadtquartieren priorisieren zu können. Hierzu ist es notwendig, den verantwortlichen Akteuren angepasste Methoden, z.B. Indikatorensets, für die Entscheidungsfindung bereitzustellen. Diese Voraussetzung ist bisher unzureichend erfüllt (z.B. Barthesaghi Koc et al. 2018).</p> <p>Im Verbundprojekt ‚HeatResilientCity-II‘ (HRC-II) wurde daher ein Indikatorset basierend auf Stadtklimasimulationen (ENVI-met, Bruse 1999) entwickelt, welches eine erste, vereinfachte Quantifizierung der Wirksamkeit von AM an Hitze erlaubt. Zur Beurteilung der Wirksamkeit der AM wird dabei ein bioklimatischer Index verwandt (UTCI; Universal Thermal Climate Index, Jendritzky et al. 2012), sodass direkt Aussagen zur Änderung der thermischen Belastung des Menschen ermöglicht werden. Hierbei werden sowohl Bedingungen am Tag als auch in der Nacht adressiert und so dem Umstand Rechnung getragen, dass nicht alle AM für alle Tageszeiten gleich wirksam sind. In einer ersten Version werden zwei verschiedene Kategorien umgesetzt, zum einen die Quantifizierung der Wirkung von AM für Einzelflächen begrenzter Ausdehnung und zum anderen für Straßenbegleitgrün. </p> <p>Dem Nutzer wird eine Auswahl von Flächen bereitgestellt, welche unterschiedliche Anpassungsmaßnahmen repräsentieren und die jeweils mittels eines Steckbriefes kurz beschrieben werden. Derzeit stehen für die Kategorie Einzelmaßnahmen begrenzter Ausdehnung 39 Flächen zur Verfügung und für die Beurteilung von Straßenbegleitgrün 25 Flächen. Die zugehörigen UTCI-Werte sind entsprechend in einer Datenbank hinterlegt und ermöglichen somit einen Vergleich der thermischen Belastung verschiedener Beispielflächen.</p> <p>Die Entwicklung des Indikatorsets erfolgt in Zusammenarbeit mit Praxispartnern aus zwei Städten (Erfurt und Dresden) mit dem Ziel das Indikatorset nutzerfreundlich zu gestalten.</p> <p> </p> <p>Literatur</p> <p>Bartesaghi Koc, C., Osmond, P., and Peters, A.: Evaluating the cooling effects of green infrastructure: A systematic review of methods, indicators and data sources, Solar Energy, 166, 486–508, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2018.03.008, 2018.</p> <p>Bruse, M.: Die Auswirkungen kleinskaliger Umweltgestaltung auf das Mikroklima. Entwicklung des prognostischen numerischen Models ENVI-Met zur Simulation der Wind-, Temperatur- und Feuchterverteilung in städtischen Strukturen, Universität Bochum, Bochum, 1999, https://doi.org/10.23689/fidgeo-440.</p> <p>Jendritzky, G., Dear, R. de, and Havenith, G.: UTCI—Why another thermal index?, Int J Biometeorol, 56, 421–428, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00484-011-0513-7, 2012.</p>

Thermal regions in Sri Lanka

The need for an objective classification of the thermal regions of Sri Lanka is emphasised. A brief account of the thermal climate of Sri Lanka is given. Regionalization based on thermal factors has been attempted quantitatively using factor, cluster and discriminant analysis. Three groups of cluster have been selected and mapped. The results are interpreted and related to the known thermal patterns of Sri Lanka.

Universal thermal climate index associations with mortality, hospital admissions, and road accidents in Bavaria

When meteorological conditions deviate from the optimal range for human well-being, the risks of illness, injury, and death increase, and such impacts are feared in particular with more frequent and intense extreme weather conditions resulting from climate change. Thermal indices, such as the universal thermal climate index (UTCI), can better assess human weather-related stresses by integrating multiple weather components. This paper quantifies and compares the seasonal and spatial association of UTCI with mortality, morbidity, and road accidents in the federal state of Bavaria, Germany. Linear regression was applied to seasonally associate daily 56 million hospital admissions and 2.5 million death counts (1995–2015) as well as approximately 930,000 road accidents and 1.7 million people injured (2002–2015) with spatially interpolated same day- and lagged- (up to 14 days) average UTCI values. Additional linear regressions were performed stratifying by age, gender, region, and district. UTCI effects were clear in all three health outcomes studied: Increased UTCI resulted in immediate (1–2 days) rises in morbidity and even more strongly in mortality in summer, and lagged (up to 14 days) decreases in fall, winter, and spring. The strongest UTCI effects were found for road accidents where increasing UTCI led to immediate decreases in daily road accidents in winter but pronounced increases in all other seasons. Differences in UTCI effects were observed e.g. between in warmer north-western regions (Franconia, more districts with heat stress-related mortality, but hospital admissions for lung, heart and external reasons decreasing with summer heat stress), the touristic alpine regions in the south (immediate effect of increasing UTCI on road accidents in summer), and the colder south-eastern regions (increasing hospital admissions for lung, heart and external reasons in winter with UTCI). Districts with high percentages of elderly suffered from higher morbidity and mortality, particularly in winter. The influences of UTCI as well as the spatial and temporal patterns of this influence call for improved infrastructure planning and resource allocation in the health sector.

THERMAL COMFORT DEFINED BY UTCI FOR THE MONTH AUGUST OF 2017 IN THE CITY OF BIJELJINA

Knowledge of the thermal comfort of an area is of increasing importance when planning space, tourism, recreation and the health of the population that lives or is currently located there. Due to the great anthropogenic changes of nature, the temperature is rising, which is expressed especially in urban environments. The impact of temperature rise is best seen in Europe by monitoring summer meteorological parameters. The research was done by analyzing meteorological parameters of the city of Bijeljina, which is a thermal island in the area of Semberija in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Meteorological parameters during the summer months are unfavorable and affect thermal comfort, which often reflects through the health of the population. For this research were observed and calculated values of bioclimatic index UTCI or Universal thermal climate index, for the month August of 2017 which was one of the hottest months in the 21th century.

A Study of The Relationship Between Bioclimatic Comfort Zones And Land Use: The Case of Sivas Province (Turkey)

The aim of this study is to reveal the relationship between bioclimatic comfort zones and land use in Sivas province. In this context, the relationship between the climatic data of 1990 and 2018 and the land use data of Sivas province belonging to the same years was evaluated as seasonal and annual periods. The bioclimatic comfort zones in the study area were determined depending on environmental climatic parameters (ECP) [temperature (T), relative humidity (RH) and wind speed (WS)] and bioclimatic indices [Physiological Equivalent Temperature (PET), Thermo Hygrometric Index (THI), and Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI)]. The values of the environmental climate parameters of Sivas province for the relevant years were obtained from 9 meteorological stations, the height of which varies between 1121 m and 1528 m. With the help of the Geographical Information System (GIS), the spatial distribution of the bioclimatic comfort zones determined depending on the environmental climate parameters and bioclimatic indices were created. Land use maps of the study area for reference years were obtained by using CORINE land cover data. The relationship between bioclimatic comfort zones and land use was also determined with the help of GIS. According to the results of this study; It was determined that the land use type in which the bioclimatically comfortable areas overlap in Sivas province differs according to the used parameter/indexes, years and annual periods.

Development and initial tests of an urban comfort monitoring system

The paper presents a newly developed low-cost measurement system for outdoor comfort monitoring. The solution is based on IoT (Internet of Things) technologies and is cloud-connected. The system is able to collect physical environment data, and includes a movable GPS monitoring station as well as the subjective thermal sensation of pedestrians via a devoted app. The cloud interface promptly elaborates the received data to calculate outdoor thermal comfort indices such as UTCI (Universal Thermal Climate Index), MRT (mean radiant temperature), and ET (effective temperature). The system is conceived for supporting both fixed and traveling measurements, and to support correlation studies between monitored environmental variables and personal comfort sensations to promote the local adaptation of comfort indices. Results from early testing are also reported.

Assessing the Climatological Relationship between Heatstroke Risk and Heat Stress Indices in 47 Prefectures in Japan

This study provides a decade-long link between summer heatstroke incidence and certain heat stress indices in 47 prefectures of Japan. The results for each prefecture were determined from the age-adjusted heatstroke incidence rate (TRadj) with heatstroke patients transported by ambulance, as well as from the daily maximum temperature (TEMPmax), maximum wet-bulb globe temperature (WBGTmax), and maximum universal thermal climate index (UTCImax) recorded from July to September of 2010–2019. The UTCImax relatively increased the vulnerability in many prefectures of northern Japan more distinctly than the other indices. In the following analysis, the ratio of the TRadj of the hottest to coolest months using the UTCImax was defined as the heatstroke risk of the hottest to coolest (HRHC). Overall, the HRHC varied approximately from 20 to 40 in many prefectures in the past decade. In contrast, for the same analysis performed in each month, HRHC ratios in July and August fell within 2–4 in many prefectures, whereas in September, the average and maximum HRHC ratios for all prefectures were 7.0 and 32.4, respectively. This difference can be related to the large difference in UTCImax between the maximum and minimum for a decade.

Heat strain and mortality effects of prolonged central European heat wave—an example of June 2019 in Poland

The occurrence of long-lasting severe heat stress, such as in July–August 2003, July 2010, or in April–May 2018 has been one of the biggest meteorological threats in Europe in recent years. The paper focuses on the biometeorological and mortality effects of the hot June that was observed in Central Europe in 2019. The basis of the study was hourly and daily Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI) values at meteorological stations in Poland for June 2019. The average monthly air temperature and UTCI values from 1951 to 2018 were analysed as background. Grosswetterlagen calendar of atmospheric circulation was used to assess synoptic conditions of heat wave. Several heat strain measures were applied : net heat storage (S), modelled heart rate (HR), sultriness (HSI), and UTCI index. Actual total mortality (TM) and modelled strong heat-related mortality (SHRM) were taken as indicators of biometeorological consequences of the hot June in 2019. The results indicate that prolonged persistence of unusually warm weather in June 2019 was determined by the synoptic conditions occurring over the European region and causing advection of tropical air. They led to the emergence of heat waves causing 10% increase in TM and 5 times bigger SHRM then in preceding 10 years. Such increase in SHRM was an effect of overheating and overload of circulatory system of human organism.

Bioclimatic Conditions of June 2019 in Poland on a Multi-Year Background (1966–2019)

The study objective was to characterise human-biometeorological conditions in the summer season in the period 1966–2019 in Poland, with particular consideration of June 2019. The study was conducted based on data from the Institute of Meteorology and Water Management—National Research Institute (IMGW–PIB) for the years 1966–2019. The data provided the basis for the calculation of the Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI). The study revealed high spatial variability of human-biometeorological conditions in Poland, with strenuous character intensifying from the north to the south of the country. An increase in UTCI in the summer season was recorded in the studied multi-annual period. It was the most intensive in the north-eastern Poland. The consequence of the observed changes was an increase in the frequency of days with heat stress categories (days with UTCI > 26.0 °C), and a decrease in the frequency of days with cold stress categories (days with UTCI < 9.0 °C). Season 2019 stood out at the scale of the entire country in the context of the multi-annual period. This particularly concerns June, when mean monthly UTCI values were the highest in the analysed multi-annual period.