Comparing Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI) with selected thermal indices/environmental parameters during 12 months of the year

Abstract

Heat stress negatively influences human health and performance, and leading to lower efficiency in daily activities. The present study sought to examine the relationship between UTCI, other heat indices (SET, PET, PMV, PPD, and WBGT), and environmental parameters. Daily data, encompassing a 12 month period in 2016 (from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. for each day), were retrieved from the Meteorological Organization of Kerman. The data were fed into SPSS 20, followed by conducting Pearson product moment correlation and linear regression to find the association between UTCI and other heat indices/environmental parameters. Excel 2016 was also utilized to draw the relevant diagrams. Significant correlations were detected between UTCI and other heat indices (SET, PET, PMV, and WBGT). UTCI also was measurably correlated with environmental parameters like dry temperature (P < 0.0001). The highest correlation coefficient was observed between UTCI and PET (r = 0.96). UTCI also had strong correlations with WBGT (r = 0.88), SET (r = 0.87), and dry temperature (r = 0.90). Thus, indices that are calculated based on body thermal equation (i.e. SET and PET) are more strongly connected with UTCI, registering a better slope. On the other hand, WBGT is more similar to UTCI (than other indices) in terms of thermal perception. Keywords: Heat indices, Heat, Thermal climate, Temperature