Thermal comfort indices derived from ERA5 reanalysis
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General description
This dataset, also called ERA5-HEAT (Human thErmAL comforT), provides modelled hourly data for a set of indices representing human thermal stress and discomfort in outdoor conditions. The dataset is organised around two main variables, the mean radiant temperature and the universal thermal climate index. These are calculated from environmental parameters (air temperature, humidity, wind speed, radiation) provided by ECMWF ERA5 reanalysis. The dataset is regularly extended with time as ERA5 data become available. The overall size of the dataset is 1.2TB.
A throughout description of the database can be found in:
Di Napoli C, Barnard C, Prudhomme C, Cloke HL and Pappenberger F (2020) ERA5-HEAT: A global gridded historical dataset of human thermal comfort indices from climate reanalysis. Geoscience Data Journal, https://rmets.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/gdj3.102 |
Thermal comfort indices descriptions
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Figure 1 Graphical explanation of the mean radiant temperature (MRT). Adapted from [4].
Summary variable table
Variable | Description | UNIT |
Mean radiant temperature | Numerical representation of how human beings experience radiation. It applies to a human subject placed in an outdoor environment and irradiated by solar and thermal radiation both directly and diffusely. | K |
Universal thermal climate index | Numerical representation of the thermal comfort/discomfort perceived by a human subject when exposed to outdoor conditions. It is based on a state-of-the-art model that simulates human body’s physiological responses to air temperature, humidity, wind speed and radiation. | K |
Thermal comfort indices algorithm
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File names are as follows:
PRODUCER_VARIABLE_DATE_Version_Dataset.nc
where:
- Producer: ECMWF
- Variable: UTCI or MRT
- Date: Date of the reanalysis
- Version: Version of the reanalysis
- Dataset:
- con: Consolidated ERA5 Data
- int: Intermediate ERA5 Data (ERA5T)
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