Avaliação do conforto térmico para quatro diferentes locais de Manaus AM

Abstract

The continuous growth of Manaus has direct impact on landscape, with the replacement of green areas for materials that have a higher heat capacity, such as concrete, asphalt, roofing, among others. As a result, there are changes in the urban microclimate, and consequently on the thermal comfort of the population, which can still be aggravated during the occurrence of climate systems such as El Niño that reduces precipitation significantly in the region. In this study, we evaluated both the meteorological variables and human comfort index (HCI) obtained in four (4) different locations, three (3) in the urban area of Manaus, and one (1) in the rural area surrounding the city. The seasonality of the HCI was related with the distribution of precipitation throughout the year, with a variation of 4.0, 4.4 and 5.0 °C between October and December, in the stations EST, IFAM and CMM, in that order. HCI differences between sites indicate direct relation with the characteristics of the analyzed surface coverage. Although the relative humidity is larger in rural area, this is more comfortable because of the lower temperatures. For the stations of the urban area, located in the central region of the city, it was the least thermally comfortable, surpassing the air temperature by up to 13.8° C. Despite the similar features in EST and IFAM, higher temperatures in IFAM are found because this stations is installed on top of the roof, resulting in approximately 1.0° C higher HCI. In addition to the influence of surface coverage on ICH between sites, the occurrence of the very strong El Niño 2015/16 has enhanced the thermal discomfort in the South zone of Manaus, with difference compared to 2018 of up to 4.0° C.