Over 100 human thermal indices have been developed to predict the combined thermal impact on the body.In principle,these indices based on energy thermal budget equations should not only be the most complex but also be...Over 100 human thermal indices have been developed to predict the combined thermal impact on the body.In principle,these indices based on energy thermal budget equations should not only be the most complex but also be the most accurate.However,the simple indices based on algebraic or statistical models[e.g.,the wet-bulb globe temperature(WBGT)]continue to be the most popular.A new heat stress index,the enthalpy dry-bulb temperature(EnD)for indoor environments is developed and validated in this study.The EnD index is unique in that it uses the air specific enthalpy,not the wet-bulb temperature,to measure the latent heat transfer from the skin to the surrounding environment.Theoretically,the EnD index can be treated as the equivalent temperature based on the convective heat transfer coefficient h_(c).Comparison is made between the EnD index and the widely used WBGT index based on the experimental data taken from three independent studies available in the scientific literature.The results show that the EnD index can reduce the overestimation of the dry-bulb air temperature and thus reduce heat stress in most cases,especially for hot and humid environments.It can be concluded that the EnD index has the potential to replace the WBGT index as the standard heat stress index in the future.展开更多
Based on the snowfall observations at 836 surface weather stations in China and the Daily Surface Climate Variables of China version 3.0 dataset for 1961–2013, capability of five methods with different objective crit...Based on the snowfall observations at 836 surface weather stations in China and the Daily Surface Climate Variables of China version 3.0 dataset for 1961–2013, capability of five methods with different objective criteria for identifying wintertime snowfall is evaluated, to provide reference for application of these methods in snowfall/rainfall discrimination. Methods Ⅰ, Ⅱ, Ⅲ, Ⅳ, and Ⅴuse the daily average surface air temperature(Ta), wet-bulb temperature(Tw), dynamic threshold Tw, 0-cm ground temperature, and 700–850-hPa thickness, respectively, to identify the snowfall. The results show that the climatological distribution of snowfall can be well produced by Methods Ⅰ, Ⅱ, and Ⅲ. Method Ⅳ underestimates the snowfall days in eastern Tibetan Plateau(ETP), and Method Ⅴ cannot yield the actual large numbers of snowfall days and amounts. Accordingly, the linear trends of snowfall days estimated from Methods Ⅰ, Ⅱ, and Ⅲ largely agree with the observations, while a discrepancy is found in the linear trend of snowfall amounts over southeastern China(SEC). For interannual and decadal variations of snowfall, Method Ⅴ shows the worst performance. It is more reasonable to use Tw to distinguish snowfall from rainfall instead of Ta, 0-cm ground temperature, and 700–850-hPa thickness;and the reference thresholds of Tw in northeastern China(NEC), northwestern China(NWC), ETP, and SEC are-1.5,-1.5,-0.4, and-0.3°C, respectively. The above results are beneficial to identifying snowfall in short-term climate prediction.展开更多
文摘Over 100 human thermal indices have been developed to predict the combined thermal impact on the body.In principle,these indices based on energy thermal budget equations should not only be the most complex but also be the most accurate.However,the simple indices based on algebraic or statistical models[e.g.,the wet-bulb globe temperature(WBGT)]continue to be the most popular.A new heat stress index,the enthalpy dry-bulb temperature(EnD)for indoor environments is developed and validated in this study.The EnD index is unique in that it uses the air specific enthalpy,not the wet-bulb temperature,to measure the latent heat transfer from the skin to the surrounding environment.Theoretically,the EnD index can be treated as the equivalent temperature based on the convective heat transfer coefficient h_(c).Comparison is made between the EnD index and the widely used WBGT index based on the experimental data taken from three independent studies available in the scientific literature.The results show that the EnD index can reduce the overestimation of the dry-bulb air temperature and thus reduce heat stress in most cases,especially for hot and humid environments.It can be concluded that the EnD index has the potential to replace the WBGT index as the standard heat stress index in the future.
基金Supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China(2016YFA0600702)National Natural Science Foundation of China(41625019)。
文摘Based on the snowfall observations at 836 surface weather stations in China and the Daily Surface Climate Variables of China version 3.0 dataset for 1961–2013, capability of five methods with different objective criteria for identifying wintertime snowfall is evaluated, to provide reference for application of these methods in snowfall/rainfall discrimination. Methods Ⅰ, Ⅱ, Ⅲ, Ⅳ, and Ⅴuse the daily average surface air temperature(Ta), wet-bulb temperature(Tw), dynamic threshold Tw, 0-cm ground temperature, and 700–850-hPa thickness, respectively, to identify the snowfall. The results show that the climatological distribution of snowfall can be well produced by Methods Ⅰ, Ⅱ, and Ⅲ. Method Ⅳ underestimates the snowfall days in eastern Tibetan Plateau(ETP), and Method Ⅴ cannot yield the actual large numbers of snowfall days and amounts. Accordingly, the linear trends of snowfall days estimated from Methods Ⅰ, Ⅱ, and Ⅲ largely agree with the observations, while a discrepancy is found in the linear trend of snowfall amounts over southeastern China(SEC). For interannual and decadal variations of snowfall, Method Ⅴ shows the worst performance. It is more reasonable to use Tw to distinguish snowfall from rainfall instead of Ta, 0-cm ground temperature, and 700–850-hPa thickness;and the reference thresholds of Tw in northeastern China(NEC), northwestern China(NWC), ETP, and SEC are-1.5,-1.5,-0.4, and-0.3°C, respectively. The above results are beneficial to identifying snowfall in short-term climate prediction.
