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Characteristics of the mean radiant


temperature in high latitude citiesimplications for sensitive climate planning
applications
ARTICLE in INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF BIOMETEOROLOGY FEBRUARY 2013
Impact Factor: 2.1 DOI: 10.1007/s00484-013-0638-y Source: PubMed

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Int J Biometeorol
DOI 10.1007/s00484-013-0638-y

ORIGINAL PAPER

Characteristics of the mean radiant temperature in high latitude


citiesimplications for sensitive climate planning applications
Fredrik Lindberg & Bjrn Holmer & Sofia Thorsson &
David Rayner

Received: 20 December 2012 / Revised: 26 January 2013 / Accepted: 27 January 2013


# ISB 2013

Abstract Knowledge of how the mean radiant temperature


(Tmrt) is affected by factors such as location, climate and
urban setting contributes to the practice of climate sensitive
planning. This paper examines how Tmrt varies within an
urban setting and how it is influenced by cloudiness. In
addition, variations of Tmrt in three high latitude cities are
investigated in order to analyse the impact of geographical
context and climate conditions. Results showed large spatial
variations between sunlit and shaded areas during clear
weather conditions, with the highest values of Tmrt close to
sunlit walls and the lowest values in the areas shaded by
buildings and vegetation. As cloudiness increases, the spatial pattern is altered and the differences are reduced. The
highest Tmrt under cloudy conditions is instead found in
open areas where the proportion of shortwave diffuse radiation from the sky vault is high. A regional comparison
between three Swedish coastal cities showed that Tmrt during summer is similar regardless of latitudinal location. On
the other hand, large differences in Tmrt during winter were
found. Shadows, both from buildings and vegetation are the
most effective measure to reduce extreme values of Tmrt.
However, extensive areas of shadow are usually not desired
within outdoor urban environments at high latitude cities.
One solution is to create diverse outdoor urban spaces in
terms of shadow and also ventilation. This would provide
individuals with access to a choice of thermal environments
which they can use to assist their thermal regulation, based
on personal needs and desires.
Keywords SOLWEIG . Urban geometry . Mean radiant
temperature . Sweden . Gteborg . Lule . Stockholm
F. Lindberg (*) : B. Holmer : S. Thorsson : D. Rayner
Gteborg Urban Climate Group, Earth Science Centre, University
of Gothenburg, Box 460, 405 30 Gteborg, Sweden
e-mail: fredrikl@gvc.gu.se

Introduction
Mean radiant temperature (Tmrt) is one of the most important
meteorological parameters governing human energy balance
and thermal comfort outdoors, especially during clear and
calm summer days (Mayer and Hppe 1987). Tmrt is defined
as the uniform temperature of an imaginary enclosure in
which the radiant heat transfer from the human body equals
the radiant heat transfer in the actual non-uniform enclosure
(ASHRAE 2001) and its spatial variations during the day
are chiefly influenced by shadow patterns generated by
obstructing objects such as trees, buildings and general
topography (Lindberg and Grimmond 2011b). Other factors
that affect Tmrt are the thermal and radiative properties of
surrounding surface materials (albedo, emissivity, thermal
admittance, etc). Compared to other parameters influencing
the thermal comfort, such as air temperature (Ta) and air
humidity, Tmrt shows large spatial variations over short
distances. Mayer et al. (2008) demonstrated this by comparing Ta and Tmrt in one sunlit and one shaded location
adjacent to each other in the city of Freiburg, Germany
during warm and clear summer weather. The differences in
Tmrt could be as much as 37 C whereas Ta showed a
difference of only 12 C between the two locations.
Cloudiness affects the spatial pattern of the radiative fluxes
from solid surfaces (ground, buildings and vegetation, etc.)
as well as from the sky vault, which in turn affect Tmrt. The
reduction of direct shortwave radiation with increased
cloudiness reduces the differences between sunlit and shaded areas. The proportion of diffuse radiation from the sky
vault increases with increased cloudiness. The difference
between the surface temperatures of sunlit and shaded surfaces also reduces as cloudiness increases, which in turn
affects the long wave radiation fluxes (Lindberg et al. 2008;
Lindberg and Grimmond 2011a; Konarska et al. 2012).
Another important determinant of the outdoor human

Int J Biometeorol

thermal comfort is the convective cooling of wind, which


also tends to have large variations within short distances
within the urban environment (Mochida and Lun 2008).
The most accurate method to estimate Tmrt is to measure
the short-wave and long-wave radiation fluxes (upward,
downward and from the four cardinal points) along with
information on body posture (sitting, standing, etc.) and
absorption coefficients of shortwave and longwave radiation
of the human body (Hppe 1992). The method requires the
use of pyranometers and pyrgeometers, arranged in the six
directions, which makes it costly and difficult to implement
in extensive measuring campaigns (e.g. Thorsson et al.
2007). A simpler but less accurate way of measuring the Tmrt
outdoors is to use a globe thermometer along with air temperature and wind speed measurements (e.g. Nikolopoulou et al.
1999). Observations are in general stationary and cannot provide information on the spatial patterns of Tmrt. As a consequence, it is more common to make use of a model in order to
obtain estimations of Tmrt (Bruse and Fleer 1998; Lindberg et
al. 2008; Matzarakis et al. 2009).
Predictions of human induced climate change suggest
increases in near surface air temperatures anywhere between
0.5 and 6.5 C over the next 100 years (IPCC 2007). It is
also predicted that heat wave episodes will become more
frequent, more intense and longer (Meehl and Tebaldi 2004).
It is further suggested that climate change could magnify the
urban heat island effect in some locations (McCarthy et al.
2010). This calls for an improved understanding of how the
variations of microclimates within an urban setting influence
peoples health and well-being. Of particular importance are
human thermal comfort issues. During extreme heat waves,
like that which occurred in central Europe in 2003, heat stress
can have profound effects on peoples health and well-being,
with substantial economic consequences (Pascal et al. 2006).
By taking climate issues into consideration in the urban planning process it is possible to improve outdoor thermal comfort
conditions, i.e. reducing heat and cold stress as well as
prolonging the periods of comfortable conditions, thus also
the health and well-being of the urban citizens. It is suggested
that Tmrt is a better measure to analyze the impact of weather
on peoples health compared to air temperature or apparent
temperature (Thorsson et al. 2012). By improving knowledge
about how Tmrt varies within the urban environment during
different weather conditions, and about the influence of urban
morphology and vegetation on the radiative properties and
thus Tmrt, it is possible to more accurately identify risk areas
and take appropriate measures to reduce heat stress in these
areas.
In this paper we explore how the spatial pattern of Tmrt in
an urban setting is influenced by cloudiness and how Tmrt
varies across different seasons in high latitude cities. The
results are discussed in terms of their implications for urban
planning and design. Three Swedish cities at different

latitudes were selected for this case study (Gteborg,


Stockholm and Lule). Tmrt was simulated using the SOlar
and LongWave Environmental Irradiance Geometry
(SOLWEIG) model (Lindberg and Grimmond 2011a;
Lindberg et al. 2008).

Methods
Study area for spatial analysis
To explore the spatial variations of Tmrt for a standing
person in the urban environment, a 3-D representation of
buildings and vegetation is acquired. In this paper, a real
world study area was selected covering a part of the city
centre of Gteborg, located on the Swedish west coast
(57.70 N, 11.94 E). The city centre has a classical
European design, characterized by a compact mid-rise structure with little vegetation. The study area selected covers the
area south of the main train station as shown in Fig. 1. In the
south area of the domain one of the major parks in Gteborg
(Trdgrdsfreningen) is situated. The Digital Surface
Model (DSM) in Fig. 1 is derived from an extensive
geodatabase maintained by the Building and Planning
Office in Gteborg including both building and vegetation
geometries. The DSM is derived according to Lindberg
(2005) and has a resolution of 1 m pixel and an extent of
637 by 400 pixels.
Spatial modelling
This study made use of the SOLWEIG model, which is able
to simulate spatial (2-D) variations of 3-D radiation fluxes
and Tmrt as well as shadow patterns in complex urban
settings. As from Version 2, SOLWEIG can also include
vegetation in the form of trees and bushes in the modelling
procedure. The model has been shown to accurately estimate the radiation fluxes for a number of different urban
settings and weather conditions as well as in different regional contexts (Lindberg and Grimmond 2011a). The model requires the meteorological parameters air temperature,
relative humidity and solar radiation (global and diffuse
components) together with spatial data in the form of a
DSM (see the section Study area for spatial analysis) and a
geographical location. Tmrt is calculated for a (rotationally
symmetric) standing or walking person where the angular
factors are set to 0.22 for radiation fluxes from the four
cardinal points (east, west, north and south) and 0.06 for
radiation fluxes from above and below. Absorption coefficients for shortwave and longwave radiation are 0.7 and
0.97, respectively. Albedo and emissivity for buildings and
vegetation is set to 0.20 and 0.95, respectively. The transmissivity of shortwave and longwave radiation through

Int J Biometeorol

Fig. 1 Model domain covering the area around the central station in Gteborg (Sweden). Spatial resolution is 1 m. Green circles shows location
and extent of vegetation units. White lines are base map features such as pavement edges, etc.

vegetation is set to 5 % and 0 %, respectively, according to


Lindberg and Grimmond (2011a). Wind is not considered in
the current version of the model. Sunlit surface temperatures
of terrestrial surfaces such as building walls and ground are
estimated using an empirical relationship for the difference
between air temperature and surface temperature based on
clearness and day of year (Lindberg et al. 2008). The proportion of sunlit walls seen at a specific location within the
model domain is derived using the concept of a cylindrical
wedge based on the sky view factor (SVF) and sun altitude
(see Fig. 3 in Lindberg et al. 2008). Since all surfaces are
considered to have the same properties in the current version
of the model, errors could be introduced compared to a real
world situation. For a detailed description of the SOLWEIG
model see Lindberg et al. (2008) and Lindberg and
Grimmond (2011a).
In order to examine how the spatial patterns of Tmrt
change during different weather situations represented by
cloudiness (clearness), a sensitivity test was performed. A
base weather, representing a clear and warm summer day,
the 6th of June 1997, was chosen. On this day, the global
solar radiation (G) peaks at 821 Wm2 during midday
whereas the diffuse component (D) peaks at 104 Wm2.
The direct radiation beam (I) peaks 2 h earlier at 894 Wm2.
Air temperature is relatively high, peaking in the afternoon
at about 23.5 C. The meteorological data were collected at
an hourly resolution from a nearby weather station (500 m

east of the study area) run by the Swedish Meteorological


and Hydrological Institute (SMHI).
For our sensitivity test, global radiation was reduced by 80,
60 and 40 % of its original values, keeping Ta and RH
constant. Thereafter, the diffuse component was estimated
using the statistical model developed by Reindl et al. (1990).
Direct shortwave radiation on a surface perpendicular to the
Sun is then estimated:
I G  D= sin

where is the Suns elevation angle above the horizon.


Equation 1 is sensitive to very low values of (sunrise and
sunset). The current version of SOLWEIG (v2) corrects for
negative values of I. As for unreasonably high values of I, no
correction is made and output needs to be evaluated and
removed if unreasonable values are identified. Figure 2 show
the increase and decrease in D (Fig. 2b) and I (Fig. 2c),
respectively, when reducing G in 20 % intervals (Fig. 2a). As
G is reduced, D increases. However, D peaks when G is
reduced by 60 % and not at 40 %. This is due to the fact that
G is reduced to a level where D can no longer be increased. I
decreases with decreased G and becomes almost 0 Wm2
when G is reduced to 40 % of its original value. One can argue
that Ta and RH should change when the shortwave radiation
components change but in order to make a solid sensitivity
analysis Ta and RH are kept constant. Furthermore, a general

Int J Biometeorol

Fig. 2 The relationship between the three shortwave radiation


components at four different levels of global radiation (G). Direct
beam radiation and diffuse irradiation for G (80 %), G (60 %)

and G (40 %) are calculated using the Reindl et al. (1990)


approach. a Global shortwave radiation (G). b Diffuse radiation
(D). c Direct beam radiation (I)

decrease of G might not have been appropriate if a short time


interval was applied due to convective cumulus clouds.
However, since 1 h averages are used, the effect of highly
varying shortwave radiation is reduced.

regional comparison from a Swedish point of view is also


presented.

Quantitative analysis and regional comparison

Figure 3a shows the spatial variation of Tmrt at 3 PM on a


clear and warm summer day, i.e. the 6th of June 1997.
During a clear sky situation Tmrt reaches its highest values
close to sunlit building walls and in sunlit dense environments. At open, sunlit locations the Tmrt show somewhat
lower values compared to close to sunlit walls. The spatial
pattern in sunlit positions has two main explanations; first,
the longwave radiation fluxes originated from the warm
building walls and second, the cooler sky is partly blocked
by the same buildings. Furthermore, reflection of shortwave
radiation is greater at locations closer to sunlit building
walls. At the open locations, less building walls and more
of the cool sky is visible. The lowest values of Tmrt are
found in shadowed positions. Figure 4 illustrates the spatial
patterns of some of the short- and longwave radiation components for the same point in time as is shown in Fig. 3a.
Spatial variation of shortwave radiation is foremost dependent on the shadow patterns generated by buildings and
vegetation. The direct component is dominating (Imax =
633 Wm2) and only affected by shadow patterns (Fig. 4a)
whereas the diffuse (Fig. 4b) and reflected (Fig. 4c) components are controlled by SVF and of much less importance
(Dmax =92 Wm2 and Reflectedmax =38 Wm2). Outgoing
longwave radiation (Fig. 4d) is controlled by the ground
view factor which is a measure of the amount of sunlit areas
that is seen by a fictitious down-looking pyrgeometer at
the height of 1.1 m (for details, see Lindberg and Grimmond
2011a). The incoming longwave radiation is controlled by
SVF (Fig. 4e) whereas the longwave fluxes from the four
cardinal points (Fig. 4f) are a combination of the outgoing
and incoming fluxes (Lindberg and Grimmond 2011a).

A 25-year meteorological dataset between 1983 and 2007


from the same SMHI station in Gteborg as mentioned in
the section Spatial modelling is used to examine the behaviour of Tmrt from a climatological and geographical perspective. The data has an hourly resolution and incorporates all
the meteorological parameters necessary to execute
SOLWEIG. For the regional comparison, two additional
SMHI datasets from Lule (65.54N, 22.11E) and
Stockholm (59.35N, 18.06E) were used. The same period
as for the station in Gteborg was used. Both Lule and
Stockholm are located on the east coast of Sweden.
For the regional comparison, a subversion of SOLWEIG
called SOLWEIG1D (Lindberg 2012) was used to calculate
radiation fluxes and Tmrt for a generic sunlit location within
the urban environment. Unlike the full SOLWEIG simulations discussed above, where SVF and shadow patterns are
determined for each pixel in a DSM, SOLWEIG1D has a
single, fixed, user-specified SVF and the location is assumed to be sunlit during the daytime hours. The latter
would not would be the case in a real world situation, where
surrounding objects would block the sun at specific times of
the day and year when SVF<1. Otherwise, the same settings
are used as presented in the section Spatial modelling.

Results and discussion


In this section, maps and statistics from the sensitivity
analysis (section Spatial modelling) are presented. A

The influence of cloudiness on the spatial patterns of Tmrt

Int J Biometeorol

Fig. 3 Spatial variations of Tmrt (standing man) (C) during clear and
warm weather in the city centre of Gteborg, Sweden at 1500 h LST on
6 June 1997 (a). B through D show spatial patterns when global
radiation is reduced to: 80 % (b), 60 % (c), and 40 % (d) of its original

value. E through G show normalized differences between G (100 %)


(a) and G (80 %) (e), G (60 %) (f), and G (40 %) (g). The diffuse and
direct beam components are recalculated according to Reindl et al.
(1990), respectively

Apart from shadow patterns, the SVF is a good measure


that explains much of these spatial patterns (Fig. 5). For
example, SVF decreases as sunlit building walls are

approached, which results in increased values of Tmrt closer


to the same walls. As from version 2, SOLWEIG can compute continuous maps of complete SVFs incorporating

Int J Biometeorol

Fig. 4 Spatial variations of various radiation components during clear


and warm weather in the city centre of Gteborg, Sweden at 1500 h
LST on 6 June 1997. All values are given in Wm2. a Direct shortwave

radiation. b Diffuse shortwave radiation. c Reflected shortwave radiation. d Outgoing longwave radiation. e Incoming longwave radiation. f
Average longwave radiation from the four cardinal points

buildings, ground topography and vegetation units when


available (Lindberg and Grimmond 2010; Lindberg and
Grimmond 2011a). Visual examinations of the SVF image
in Fig. 5 shows the large reduction of SVF underneath
vegetation where a very large proportion of the hemisphere
is blocked by the vegetation canopies. Even though the SVF
is very low underneath the canopies, the Tmrt is less than in
areas close to sunlit building walls. This is because the
surface temperatures are considered to be much higher for
buildings compared to vegetation in the model.
Reducing the global radiation and recalculating the diffus e an d d irect comp onen t as exp lained in the
section Spatial modelling alters the spatial patterns of Tmrt
considerably (Fig. 3b to d). When G is reduced to 80 %, the
areas close to building walls are no longer the areas with the
highest Tmrt. Instead more open settings show the highest
values (Fig. 3b). This pattern becomes more pronounced as
G is further reduced (Fig. 3c and d). The areas with the

highest values of Tmrt are now found at the most open


locations, such as building rooftops. The dense settings with
narrow street canyons become cooler as G is reduced. Clear
weather situation (Fig. 3a) results in overall higher values of
Tmrt at street level (Av=48.3 C). As G is reduced Tmrt is
also reduced. The lowest average value of Tmrt at street level
(34.2 C) is found when G is reduced to 40 % of its original
value (Fig. 3d). When G is reduced, there are still areas with
high values of Tmrt. For example, the open areas and rooftops in Fig. 3b (G=80 %) have Tmrt almost as high as
locations close to sunlit building walls in Fig. 3a (G =
100 %). Figure 3eg shows the differences in the spatial
distribution of Tmrt for various levels of cloudiness. The
difference maps are generated using the clear weather situation (Fig. 3a) as a constant. The average Tmrt at street level
for a specific cloudiness situation is subtracted from that
image before the difference map is crated. Examining
Fig. 3eg, a number of interesting features can be seen.

Int J Biometeorol

Fig. 5 Continuous sky view factors (SVF) for the study area including both buildings and vegetation units. Black represents SVF=0 and white
represents SVF=1

For example, the effect of lower Tmrt in shadowed locations


is reduced as cloudiness increases. Also, a small proportion
of sunlit areas close to building walls are colder when a
small increase in cloudiness is used (Fig. 3e). This area
increases as cloudiness increases (Fig. 3fg). The altered
spatial pattern of Tmrt during cloudy weather situations has a
number of explanations. As the sky becomes cloudier, the
temperature of the sky vault increases due to an increase in
emissivity which favors higher Tmrt values at open locations.
Furthermore, the surface temperatures of sunlit building
walls are reduced as less incoming radiation is received by
these surfaces. Increased cloudiness also increases the importance of the shortwave diffuse radiation component
which originates from all positions throughout the sky vault.
In the current version of the SOLWEIG model (2.3) the
diffuse component is considered to be isotropic, although
this is not the case. Especially during clear weather situations an anisotropic pattern is present where a higher proportion of the diffuse irradiation originates from the position
around the sun (McArthur and Hay 1981). Further development of the SOLWEIG model is currently being conducted,
and we plan to incorporate a simplified version of the sky
model presented by Perez et al. (1993). When G is reduced
to 40 % of its original value, the shadow patterns are hard to
identify due to the low proportion of direct radiation present
(24 Wm2 at 3 pm LST). Now the areas with the lowest Tmrt
are found in very dense urban structures such as courtyards.

Regarding the effect of vegetation on the spatial pattern


of daytime Tmrt for different levels of cloudiness, trees and
bushes lower Tmrt within their close proximity. However, the
reason for this has different explanations based on the level
of cloudiness. During clear weather the shadow from the
vegetation lowers Tmrt by blocking direct solar radiation. As
cloudiness increases the shadow effect is reduced, and instead, the low SVF under the trees block the relatively
warmer sky which is found during cloudy weather situations. An interesting feature found during clear weather
situations is the relatively high values of Tmrt for sunlit areas
underneath the vegetation canopies. This is caused by the
vegetation canopies that block the relatively colder sky
resulting in increased incoming longwave radiation originating from vegetation rather that from sky. Even though
Tmrt have local maxima at these locations, they are probably
not prone to enhanced heat stress because areas underneath
trees are well-ventilated compared to areas close to a sunlit
building wall. Using a thermal index, e.g. physiological
equivalent temperature (PET) (Mayer and Hppe 1987),
would probably demonstrate this. Also since Tmrt is estimated for the center of gravity of a human (1.1 m agl), the upper
part of a standing body could be in shadow from vegetation
while values of Tmrt are still estimated as high. Furthermore,
episodes of heat stress usually occur in the summer months
when the Suns altitude angles are high and the area underneath the vegetation canopy is shaded.

Int J Biometeorol

Another interesting pattern is found when comparing


Tmrt and SVF. Figure 6 shows scatterplots between Tmrt
and SVF under the four different levels of G. During
clear weather (Fig. 6a) two clusters of data points are
evident. These two clusters originate from sunlit or
shaded locations within the model domain (red and blue
in Fig. 6). Furthermore, the peak in Tmrt for both the
shaded and sunlit points are found in the more dense
urban structures where low SVF values are found. As
cloudiness increases (G = 8060 %) the two clusters
moves closer together (Fig. 6b and c) and for G
(40 %) (Fig. 6d) only one cluster is present. The peak
in Tmrt for G (8040 %) is found in the most open
settings with high SVF-values.

Quantitative analysis of Tmrt

Fig. 6 Hourly values of Tmrt (standing man) versus sky view factor (SVF)
for the different levels of global radiation for the model domain as
shown in Figs. 4 and 6. 100 % (a), 80 % (b), 60 % (b), and 40 % (d) of

the original global radiation value. Only ground pixels are considered
(n=173842). Red data points are sunlit and blue are data points in
shadow

Scatterplots between Tmrt and sky cloudiness (here represented by D/G) for fictitious sunlit points with different
SVFs in Gteborg between 1983 and 2006 are shown in
Fig. 7. Only daytime situations are considered (G>0). A low
value of D/G represents clear weather conditions and a high
value (close to 1) represents overcast weather conditions. A
number of interesting features are shown. First, the shape of
the data point cloud changes as the SVF is altered. The
highest value of Tmrt (71.4 C) was found during semicloudy conditions in the fictitious open space (SVF=1.00).
The reason for this is the high diffuse radiation (475 Wm2)
in combination with high value of global radiation (749 W

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Fig. 7 Hourly daytime values of Tmrt (standing man) versus cloudiness (diffuse/global) at a sunlit location for different urban geometries (SVFs)

Int J Biometeorol

m2) which increase Tmrt as the whole sky vault is visible.


Also, the longwave radiation from the sky vault is relatively
high (316 Wm2) due to the presence of clouds, and air and
surface temperature are also high (26 C and 35.5 C,
respectively) resulting in outgoing longwave radiation of
489 Wm2. The lowest value of daytime Tmrt is also found
at SVF=1.00 (Tmrt =32.7 C) during a totally overcast
situation with extremely low Ta (21.9 C) and almost no
shortwave radiation (I=18.1 Wm2). This gives very small
outgoing and incoming longwave radiant fluxes of 212 W
m2 and 119 Wm2, respectively. As SVF is lowered, i.e.
moving towards more dense urban settings, the highest
values are instead found during clear weather situations as
building walls can contribute to the longwave radiation
fluxes and hence influence Tmrt at the fictitious point. As
SVF is reduced to 0.2 and 0.1, the dense urban structures
will have the highest values of Tmrt within the urban setting.
The lowest mean values of daytime Tmrt for the period 1983
to 2007, are found at SVF=0.60 (Tmrt =17.2 C) and the
highest at SVF =0.10 (Tmrt = 18.4 C). The scattering is
highest at SVF=1.00 (Tmrt =20.4 C) and the lowest at
SVF=0.10 (Tmrt =15.0 C). If nocturnal values are included, the lowest value of Tmrt is found at SVF 1.00 (Tmrt =
7.25) with increasing mean values as SVF is lowered (not
shown).
Regional comparison of Tmrt
Figure 8 shows monthly averages of Tmrt, Ta, global radiation and cloudiness for Gteborg, Lule and Stockholm
between 1983 and 2007. The distribution of hourly data in
the form of boxplots is shown in Fig. 9. Summer temperatures are relatively similar between the three cities whereas
winter temperatures are considerably lower in Lule due to
its more northern location. Incoming solar radiation is relatively similar but differences are also found between the
three cities. The highest level of monthly average solar

Fig. 9 Distribution of hourly values of air temperature, global radia-


tion, cloudiness and hourly values of mean radiant temperature for a
standing man from a fictitious sunlit point (SVF=0.60) for Gteborg,
Lule and Stockholm between 1983 and 2007. Cloudiness is calculated
for a midday period between 10 AM and 2 PM. Circles represents mean
values

radiation during summer is found in Lule due to the long


days. However, the peak values of summer time solar radiation are found in Gteborg due to its location furthest south
(Fig. 9). During the winter months, the incoming solar
radiation in Lule is very low and during January and
December there is almost no sunlight present at all.
Gteborg and Stockholm are very similar with regards to
incoming solar radiation. This is because they are both
coastal cities with similar latitude. Midday cloudiness for
the three cities shows that all three cities experience more
clear weather during the summer compared to winter.
Stockholm has the overall lowest values of cloudiness,
especially during spring (April and May).
The monthly averages of Tmrt for a standing man at a
fictitious sunlit point with a SVF of 0.60 representing a
typical urban environment reveals a number of interesting
features (Fig. 8). Regardless of the location, the level of Tmrt
during the summer months (June and July) is very similar
for the three cities. The most northern location even has a
slightly higher median value (19.4 C in June) compared to
the two more southern locations where Gteborg has the
lowest (17.0 C in June) median value (Fig. 9). The peak
values of Tmrt during summer are similar between the three
cities (Fig. 9). The highest values of Tmrt for Gteborg and
Stockholm occur in July (62.1 C and 63.6 C, respectively).
Tmrt in Lule peaks in June (62.1 C). This could foremost be
explained by the difference in sun altitude. Even though the
peak in incoming short wave radiation is smaller in Lule
compared to Stockholm and Gteborg (Fig. 9), a standing
person will receive a larger fraction of shortwave radiation
due to the posture of the vertical, cylinder body representing a
standing man (Mayer and Hppe 1987). Figure 10 shows the

Fig. 8 Monthly averages of Tmrt, air temperature, global radiation, and cloudiness for Gteborg, Lule and Stockholm between 1983 and 2007.
Cloudiness is calculated for a midday period between 10 AM and 2 PM

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different radiative loads of shortwave and longwave radiation


during the peaks of Tmrt for the three different cities. The
incoming shortwave radiation for a spherical body (Fig. 10a)
is lowest for Lule (99 Wm2). However, the lower solar
altitude results in the highest shortwave flux from the side
(cardinal points) (188 W m2). On the other hand, the
longwave fluxes are the lowest in Lule (340 W m 2).
Adding the view factors of a standing man to the fluxes
(Fig. 10b) increases the importance of the sideway fluxes
while reducing the fluxes from above and below (Fig. 10a).
The inter-quartile range of summertime values of Tmrt is
smaller in Gteborg compared to the other two cities (Fig. 9).
This is probably because of its maritime location on the west
coast of Sweden which is exposed to the westerly winds that
predominate the overall climate in Sweden. The location of
Gteborg is also evident when examining the wintertime
values of Tmrt where Stockholm has lower values. Lule
shows much lower values during the winter months due to
the colder temperatures and lack of solar radiation. Altering
the urban density by changing SVF does not change the
patterns found between the three cities (not shown).
However, the distribution of Tmrt in relation to clearness

throughout the data period (19832007) changes for


Stockholm and Lule according to the patterns found in
Gteborg (Fig. 9).
Implications for climate sensitive planning
As shown in Fig. 3a, the highest Tmrt values are found on
clear and warm days close to sun-lit walls. This implies that
shading should be maximized in these areas in order to
reduce outdoor heat stress as well as heating of buildings
during periods of extensive heat. During semi-cloudy conditions, however the highest values are found in open areas,
such as roofs and squares (Fig. 3b to d). Although Tmrt are
less in magnitude during semi-cloudy conditions than during clear conditions, the results suggest that shading should
also be provided in open areas. Also, even though the hours
when Tmrt is highest occurs during semi cloudy conditions
in open areas (Fig. 7, SVF=1.00), dense urban areas show
clusters of points of high Tmrt during clear weather situations
(Fig. 7, SVF<1).
Although dense urban settings are generally warmer on a
daily average than open settings, dense settings mitigate the

Fig. 10 Radiative loads as calculated in SOLWEIG during peak values of Tmrt at a fictitious location (SVF=0.60) in Gteborg (GBG), Lule (LUL) and
Stockholm (STK) for a spherical body (a) and a cylindrical body (standing man) (b). Components L are longwave, and components K shortwave

Int J Biometeorol

swings in Tmrt (Fig. 7), i.e. reducing the heat stress as well as
cold stress. These results are in line with previous studies
(Thorsson et al. 2011).
Tmrt is similar throughout Sweden in summer (Figs. 8 and
9). This implies that the same design guidelines to reduce
heat stress can be applied in all three cities. However,
latitudinal differences result in different sun altitudes, which
needs to be considered in terms of shadows from building
and vegetation. In high latitude areas, there is always a great
challenge for architects and urban planners to create outdoor
urban settings which are both able to mitigate heat during a
few hazardous occasions but also to be pleasant during the
rest of the year. During heat waves, shadowing is one the
most effective measures for mitigating high Tmrt . However,
extensive areas of shadow are usually not desired in the
outdoor environments of high latitude cities. One solution
is to create diverse outdoor urban spaces in terms of shadow,
ventilation, etc. This gives opportunities of various choices
within short distances to regulate the thermal environment
of the human body based on personal needs and desires
(Thorsson et al. 2004). Another effective mitigation of heat
stress is to maximize shading in areas that tend to heat up,
i.e. sunlit areas, especially those close to buildings or in
densely built structures.
Besides altering the urban geometry, vegetation has
shown to be an effective and relatively simple measure to
mitigate heat stress during periods of extensive temperatures
(Lindberg and Grimmond 2011a; Bowler et al. 2010;
Shashua-Bar et al. 2011; Picot 2004; Mayer et al. 2008).
In order to maximize the cooling effect type, arrangements
and location of vegetation need to be considered. In terms of
type of vegetation, trees are to be preferred over lower
vegetation (bushes, ground vegetation) due to their ability
to provide shade (Lindberg and Grimmond 2011b;
Konarska et al. 2012). Furthermore, species that thrive in
relatively warm and dry environments should be selected in
order to provide maximum growth and thus maximum
cooling (Sjman and Busse Nielsen 2010). During the day
the cooling effect of trees is mainly due to shading
(Konarska et al. 2012; Mayer et al. 2008), which implies
that vegetation should be placed near surfaces that tend to
heat up, i.e. trees near north facing walls have a limited
cooling effect on its surroundings. By planning vegetation
in different layers, i.e. a mix of trees, shrubs and ground
vegetation, the shading as well as the cooling effect can be
increased (Shashua-Bar et al. 2011). Adding vegetation in
areas with no or little vegetation has been shown to give a
larger cooling effect than adding vegetation in already highly vegetated areas (Loridan and Grimmond 2012).
Altering the material of the surrounding surfaces could
also be an option to regulate the outdoor thermal environment. However, these measures usually have a minor effect.
Erell (2012) showed that although high-albedo surfaces may

reduce air temperature to which pedestrians are exposed, the


change in temperature has only a small effect on their
thermal balance with the environment. Reduction in surface
temperatures, leading to a reduction in long wave radiation
fluxes, is counterbalanced by increased reflection of shortwave radiation. The net effect of increasing the albedo of
urban surfaces may thus have a minor effect on the thermal
environment in outdoor urban settings. However, choice of
materials will affect features such as heat storage and indoor
temperatures.
As stated in the section Spatial modelling, wind is
not considered when calculating Tmrt. To estimate human thermal comfort, a more comprehensive approach
that takes into consideration both personal factors and
also wind is required. To estimate the spatial patterns of
wind fields at pedestrian heights, a more complex model
such as ENVI-met (Bruse and Fleer 1998) could be
used. Even though Tmrt alone cannot be used to calculate physiological equivalent temperature (PET) or the
universal thermal climate index (UTCI), it has been
proven that Tmrt is one of the most important parameters
for estimating outdoor thermal comfort, especially on
hot and sunny days when heat stress is likely to occur
(Mayer et al. 2008). Furthermore, during these heat
stress situations, high pressure systems are common,
resulting in low wind speeds which strengthen the relationship between thermal comfort and Tmrt.

Conclusions
Increasing the knowledge on how Tmrt varies based on
factors such as location, climate and urban setting contributes to the practice of climate sensitive planning. This paper
examines various aspects on how Tmrt varies spatially within
a high latitude urban setting based on cloudiness.
Furthermore, long-term variations of Tmrt in different regional settings within Sweden are investigated.
Results show a clear change in the spatial pattern of
T mrt between clear and cloudy weather situations.
Besides the large variations between sunlit and
shadowed areas during clear weather, the highest values
of Tmrt are found close to sunlit walls. Increased cloudiness alters the spatial pattern by reducing the differences between sunlit and shaded areas as well as
moving the warmest areas of Tmrt to open areas where
the proportion of shortwave diffuse radiation from the
sky vault is high. Vegetation lowers Tmrt through both
shadow generation and by lowering surface temperatures compared to building walls. From a regional
comparison of three Swedish coastal cities, it is shown
that Tmrt during summer is similar regardless of latitudinal location. This could foremost be explained by the

Int J Biometeorol

difference in sun altitude. Even though the peak in


incoming short wave radiation is smaller in Lule compared to Stockholm and Gteborg, a larger fraction of
shortwave radiation will be received by a person due to
the posture of the vertical, cylinder body representing a
standing man. On the other hand, large differences in
Tmrt during winter are found.
Regarding climate sensitive planning, the spatial pattern of Tmrt should be considered both from a heat
stress point of view as well from an all-year perspective. Shadow, both from buildings and vegetation, is the
most effective measure to reduce extreme values of Tmrt.
However, extensive areas of shadow are usually not
desired within outdoor urban environments at high latitude cities. One solution is to create diverse outdoor
urban spaces with a variety of shadow and ventilation
patterns. This gives opportunities of various choices
within short distances to regulate the thermal environment of the human body based on personal needs and
desires. The summer values of Tmrt are more or less the
same in the three high latitude cities included in this
study. This implies that the same design guidelines to
reduce heat can be applied in all three cities. However,
latitudinal differences result in different sun altitudes
which need to be considered in terms of shadows from
buildings and vegetation.
Acknowledgements This work is financially supported by
FORMASthe Swedish Research Council for Environment, Agricultural Sciences and Spatial Planning within the European Commission
programme Urban-Net.

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