Spatial Variations in Urban Outdoor Heat Stress and Its Influencing Factors During a Typical Summer Sea-Breeze Day in the Coastal City of Sendai, Japan, Based on Thermal Comfort Mapping

Shiyi Peng () and Hironori Watanabe
Additional contact information
Shiyi Peng: School of Architectural Engineering, Tongling University, 1335 Cuihu 4th Road, Tongling 244061, China
Hironori Watanabe: Department of Architecture, Faculty of Architecture, Tohoku Institute of Technology, 35-1 Yagiyamakasumicho, Taihaku Word, Sendai 982-8577, Miyagi, Japan

Sustainability, 2025, vol. 17, issue 17, 1-36

Abstract: Sea breezes alleviate coastal heat stress via cooling and humidifying. Sendai, Japan, in 2015 had a population of 1.08 million and an area of 786 km 2 . Integrating the WRF model with RayMan, this study employs the PET index to assess spatiotemporal distributions of thermal comfort and heat stress, and their influencing factors, on typical summer sea-breeze days in Sendai, Japan. Results indicate that in the coastal zone, PET was primarily regulated by air temperature (Ta) and relative humidity (RH). In contrast, wind speed was the dominant influence on urban/inland zones, with Ta and RH contributing more during the evening. Sea breezes markedly improved the thermal environment in the coastal zone, suppressing PET increases. PET in urban and inland zones exhibited an initial rise followed by a decline, with the inland zone experiencing sustained extreme heat stress for 3 h. Among regions experiencing extreme heat stress, inland zones showed the highest proportion (17.75%), while coastal zones had the lowest (2.14%). Proportions across the three zones were similar under nighttime conditions with no thermal stress, with the urban zone exhibiting a slightly lower proportion. This study provides a theoretical basis for climate-adaptive urban planning leveraging sea breezes as a resource.

Keywords: coastal city; sea breeze; outdoor thermal comfort; heat stress; PET (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/17/7627/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/17/7627/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:17:p:7627-:d:1731274

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().