Outdoor Thermal Comfort during Anomalous Heat at the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto, Canada
Mass sporting events in the summertime are influenced by underlying weather patterns, with high temperatures posing a risk for spectators and athletes alike. To better understand weather variations in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) during the Pan American Games in 2015 (PA15 Games), Environment and...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2018-08-01
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| Series: | Atmosphere |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.mdpi.com/2073-4433/9/8/321 |
| _version_ | 1811204515754409984 |
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| author | Alexandria J. Herdt Robert D. Brown Ian Scott-Fleming Guofeng Cao Melissa MacDonald Dave Henderson Jennifer K. Vanos |
| author_facet | Alexandria J. Herdt Robert D. Brown Ian Scott-Fleming Guofeng Cao Melissa MacDonald Dave Henderson Jennifer K. Vanos |
| author_sort | Alexandria J. Herdt |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Mass sporting events in the summertime are influenced by underlying weather patterns, with high temperatures posing a risk for spectators and athletes alike. To better understand weather variations in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) during the Pan American Games in 2015 (PA15 Games), Environment and Climate Change Canada deployed a mesoscale monitoring network system of 53 weather stations. Spatial maps across the GTA demonstrate large variations by heat metric (e.g., maximum temperature, humidex, and wet bulb globe temperature), identifying Hamilton, Ontario as an area of elevated heat and humidity, and hence risk for heat-related illness. A case study of the Hamilton Soccer Center examined on-site thermal comfort during a heat event and PA15 Soccer Games, demonstrating that athletes and spectators were faced with thermal discomfort and a heightened risk of heat-related illness. Results are corroborated by First Aid and emergency response data during the events, as well as insight from personal experiences and Twitter feed. Integrating these results provides new information on potential benefits to society from utilizing mesonet systems during large-scale sporting events. Results further improve our understanding of intra-urban heat variability and heat-health burden. The benefits of utilizing more comprehensive modeling approaches for human heat stress that coincide with fine-scale weather information are discussed. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-12T03:14:37Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-c9cf7c071b1247cc93241d8e3f07787d |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2073-4433 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-12T03:14:37Z |
| publishDate | 2018-08-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Atmosphere |
| spelling | doaj.art-c9cf7c071b1247cc93241d8e3f07787d2022-12-22T03:50:14ZengMDPI AGAtmosphere2073-44332018-08-019832110.3390/atmos9080321atmos9080321Outdoor Thermal Comfort during Anomalous Heat at the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto, CanadaAlexandria J. Herdt0Robert D. Brown1Ian Scott-Fleming2Guofeng Cao3Melissa MacDonald4Dave Henderson5Jennifer K. Vanos6Department of Geosciences, Atmospheric Science Group, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX 79409, USADepartment of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, USADepartment of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX 79409, USADepartment of Geosciences, Geography, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX 79409, USAEnvironment and Climate Change Canada, Toronto, ON M3H 5T4, CanadaEnvironment and Climate Change Canada, Toronto, ON M3H 5T4, CanadaDepartment of Geosciences, Atmospheric Science Group, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX 79409, USAMass sporting events in the summertime are influenced by underlying weather patterns, with high temperatures posing a risk for spectators and athletes alike. To better understand weather variations in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) during the Pan American Games in 2015 (PA15 Games), Environment and Climate Change Canada deployed a mesoscale monitoring network system of 53 weather stations. Spatial maps across the GTA demonstrate large variations by heat metric (e.g., maximum temperature, humidex, and wet bulb globe temperature), identifying Hamilton, Ontario as an area of elevated heat and humidity, and hence risk for heat-related illness. A case study of the Hamilton Soccer Center examined on-site thermal comfort during a heat event and PA15 Soccer Games, demonstrating that athletes and spectators were faced with thermal discomfort and a heightened risk of heat-related illness. Results are corroborated by First Aid and emergency response data during the events, as well as insight from personal experiences and Twitter feed. Integrating these results provides new information on potential benefits to society from utilizing mesonet systems during large-scale sporting events. Results further improve our understanding of intra-urban heat variability and heat-health burden. The benefits of utilizing more comprehensive modeling approaches for human heat stress that coincide with fine-scale weather information are discussed.http://www.mdpi.com/2073-4433/9/8/321thermal comfortextreme heatPan American Gamesheat stresssolar radiation |
| spellingShingle | Alexandria J. Herdt Robert D. Brown Ian Scott-Fleming Guofeng Cao Melissa MacDonald Dave Henderson Jennifer K. Vanos Outdoor Thermal Comfort during Anomalous Heat at the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto, Canada Atmosphere thermal comfort extreme heat Pan American Games heat stress solar radiation |
| title | Outdoor Thermal Comfort during Anomalous Heat at the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto, Canada |
| title_full | Outdoor Thermal Comfort during Anomalous Heat at the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto, Canada |
| title_fullStr | Outdoor Thermal Comfort during Anomalous Heat at the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto, Canada |
| title_full_unstemmed | Outdoor Thermal Comfort during Anomalous Heat at the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto, Canada |
| title_short | Outdoor Thermal Comfort during Anomalous Heat at the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto, Canada |
| title_sort | outdoor thermal comfort during anomalous heat at the 2015 pan american games in toronto canada |
| topic | thermal comfort extreme heat Pan American Games heat stress solar radiation |
| url | http://www.mdpi.com/2073-4433/9/8/321 |
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