Evaluation of the human thermal discomfort index in different phases of North-Caspian Sea Patterns (NCP) in southern coasts of Caspian Sea, Iran

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Faculty of geography, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Human thermal comfort is strongly dependent on climatic parameters variations. Variations of climatic parameters such as air temperature, precipitation, and wind speed under the effect of atmospheric teleconnection patterns can influence thermal conditions. Therefore, the main objective of this study is evaluating the effect of North-Caspian Sea Pattern (NCP) on Human Thermal Discomfort (HDI) in southern coasts of Caspian Sea. To do so, air temperature and dew point temperature data at 2 m, were extracted from the reanalysis of the ERA-Interim/European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) in monthly time scale during 1979-2018 with a spatial resolution of 0.125° × 0.125°. Then, different phases of NCP were extracted including positive, negative and neutral phases. Human thermal discomfort index was calculated during each phases. Also, influence of NCP’s intensity on thermal conditions were analyzed for positive and negative phases regarding to neutral phase and ΔHDI were computed. Results illustrated that cold stress is predominate thermal conditions during the positive phases of NCP in studied region while negative phase of NCP cause more comfortable conditions especially in eastern coasts of Caspian Sea. Also, intensity of NCP can influence the thermal conditions of the region.

Keywords


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