Is Sensible Heat Flux Useful for the Assessment of Thermal Vulnerability in Seoul (Korea)?

You Jin Kwon, Dong Kun Lee and You Ha Kwon
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You Jin Kwon: Interdisciplinary Program in Landscape Architecture, Seoul National University, Seoul 08826, Korea
Dong Kun Lee: Department of Landscape Architecture and Rural System Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul 08826, Korea
You Ha Kwon: Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, TS Plastic Surgery Hospital, Rex Tower 12-13F, 108 Dosan-daero, Gangnam, Seoul 06038, Korea

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 3, 1-26

Abstract: Climate change has led to increases in global temperatures, raising concerns regarding the threat of lethal heat waves and deterioration of the thermal environment. In the present study, we adopted two methods for spatial modelling of the thermal environment based on sensible heat and temperature. A vulnerability map reflecting daytime temperature was derived to plot thermal vulnerability based on sensible heat and climate change exposure factors. The correlation (0.73) between spatial distribution of sensible heat vulnerability and mortality rate was significantly greater than that (0.30) between the spatial distribution of temperature vulnerability and mortality rate. These findings indicate that deriving thermally vulnerable areas based on sensible heat are more objective than thermally vulnerable areas based on existing temperatures. Our findings support the notion that the distribution of sensible heat vulnerability at the community level is useful for evaluating the thermal environment in specific neighbourhoods. Thus, our results may aid in establishing spatial planning standards to improve environmental sustainability in a metropolitan community.

Keywords: sensible heat flux; thermal comfort and health; sensible heat vulnerability; urban heat island effect; heat-related mortality rate; heat vulnerability index; thermal environment; health (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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