Biometeorology parameters

Human Thermal Comfort Module

With r3XXX a Human Thermal Comfort Module (HTCM) was implemented in PALM. It can provide spatially distributed values of the three thermal indices

• Perceived Temperature (PT, see Staiger et al. (2012))
• Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI, see Jendritzky et al. (2012))
• Physiologically Equivalent Temperature (PET, see Höppe (1993))

that describe thermal perception / thermal stress of a sample human being under the local meteorological conditions.

Steering:


NAMELIST group name: initialization_parameters

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Parameter Name	FORTRAN Type	Default Value	Explanation
human_thermal_comfort	L	.F.	Enables or disables the HTCM (enables = .T., defaults to .F.).

For it is dependent on humidity and radiation input quantities, also

humidity = .T.

and

radiation_model = .T.

are required. For representativity of the results, HTCM should further only be enabled for settings with a horizontal resolution of 10.0m or less.

Optional switches in runtime_parameters

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In runtime_parameters the individual indices can be switched off (default is on) by setting them to .F. This of course requires the HTCM to be enabled (see above).

Parameter Name	FORTRAN Type	Default Value	Explanation
htcm_pt	L	.T.	Switch the calculation of Perceived Temperature off (.F.) or on (.T.).
htcm_utci	L	.T.	Switch the calculation of Universal Thermal Climate Index off (.F.) or on (.T.).
htcm_pet	L	.T.	Switch the calculation of Physiologically Equivalent Temperature off (.F.) or on (.T.).

Output

Output by the HTCM is always two dimensional and is provided for the cell level closest to 1.1 m above ground level. All parameters are available for instantaneous and time-averaged input. A list of output quantities can be found below. Output can be written to 2d and/or 3d files, where only the layer z=0 will be used. To enable the output of the given quantity, please add

quantity	long name	unit	input type (instantaneous or averaged)	output file (2d or 3d)
'htcm_pt'	Perceived Temperature	°C	instantanious input	z=0 layer in 3d file
'htcm_pet'	Physiologically Equivalent Temperature	°C	instantanious input	z=0 layer in 3d file
'htcm_utci'	Universal Thermal Climate Index	°C	instantanious input	z=0 layer in 3d file
'htcm_pt_av'	Perceived Temperature	°C	averaged input	z=0 layer in 3d file
'htcm_pet_av'	Physiologically Equivalent Temperature	°C	averaged input	z=0 layer in 3d file
'htcm_utci_av'	Universal Thermal Climate Index	°C	averaged input	z=0 layer in 3d file
'htcm_pt_xy'	Perceived Temperature	°C	instantanious input	2d (xy) file
'htcm_pet_xy'	Physiologically Equivalent Temperature	°C	instantanious input	2d (xy) file
'htcm_utci_xy'	Universal Thermal Climate Index	°C	instantanious input	2d (xy) file
'htcm_pt_xy_av'	Perceived Temperature	°C	averaged input	2d (xy) file
'htcm_pet_xy_av'	Physiologically Equivalent Temperature	°C	averaged input	2d (xy) file
'htcm_utci_xy_av'	Universal Thermal Climate Index	°C	averaged input	2d (xy) file

to the data_output section.

Proofs:

• Staiger, H.; Laschewski, G.; and Graetz, A., 2012: The perceived temperature - a versatile index for the assessment of the human thermal environment. Part A: scientific basics. International Journal of Biometeorology 56(1), 165–176. doi: 10.1007/s00484-011-0409-6.
• Jendritzky, G.; Dear, de R.; and Havenith, G., 2012: UTCI-Why another thermal index? Int J Biometeorol (56), 421–428.
• Höppe, P. R., 1999: The physiological equivalent temperature – a universal index for the biometeorological assessment of the thermal environment. Int J Biometeorol 43, 71–75.

Steering

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Since r31xx biometeorology models are available in PALM....HTCM and UV exposure....

Short description of both modules. From here, we will then link to more detailed descriptions.

NAMELIST group name: biometeorology_parameters

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Steering:

Parameter Name	FORTRAN Type	Default Value	Explanation
land_category	I	1	Category for land surface. Here, a detailed description follows...Maybe also link to an example input file.