Henrique Andrade

Perception of temperature and wind by users of public outdoor spaces: relationships with weather parameters and personal characteristics

We aim to understand the relationship between people’s declared bioclimatic comfort, their personal characteristics (age, origin, clothing, activity and motivation, etc.) and the atmospheric conditions. To attain this goal, questionnaire surveys were made concurrently with weather measurements (air temperature, relative humidity, solar and long-wave radiation and wind speed) in two open leisure areas of Lisbon (Portugal), during the years 2006 and 2007. We analysed the desire expressed by the interviewees to decrease, maintain or increase the values of air temperature and wind speed, in order to improve their level of comfort. Multiple logistic regression was used to analyse the quantitative relation between preference votes and environmental and personal parameters. The preference for a different temperature depends on the season and is strongly associated with wind speed. Furthermore, a general decrease of discomfort with increasing age was also found. Most people declared a preference for lower wind speed in all seasons; the perception of wind shows significant differences depending on gender, with women declaring a lower level of comfort with higher wind speed. It was also found that the tolerance of warmer conditions is higher than of cooler conditions, and that adaptive strategies are undertaken by people to improve their level of comfort outdoors.

Interactive short-term effects of equivalent temperature and air pollution on human mortality in Berlin and Lisbon

There is substantial evidence that both temperature and air pollution are predictors of mortality. Thus far, few studies have focused on the potential interactive effects between the thermal environment and different measures of air pollution. Such interactions, however, are biologically plausible, as (extreme) temperature or increased air pollution might make individuals more susceptible to the effects of each respective predictor. This study investigated the interactive effects between equivalent temperature and air pollution (ozone and particulate matter) in Berlin (Germany) and Lisbon (Portugal) using different types of Poisson regression models. The findings suggest that interactive effects exist between air pollutants and equivalent temperature. Bivariate response surface models and generalised additive models (GAMs) including interaction terms showed an increased risk of mortality during periods of elevated equivalent temperatures and air pollution. Cold effects were mostly unaffected by air pollution. The study underscores the importance of air pollution control in mitigating heat effects.

Using multi-level analysis to evaluate the vulnerability of the LMA population to heat

The image of places influences the behavior of geographic actors such as tourists, entrepreneurs and new residents. The construction of this image is a complex result from the combination of three key contributions: the direct lived experience; the territorial marketing strategies and the way creative industries represent those same places. Among the creative industries that operate in today’s digital world, cinema is one of the most important communication tools and place image making source. First, many of the imaginary movies fiction take advantage of geographic scenarios that, depending on how they are represented, mark the image of these places. Second, cinema is an active geographic agent. In fact, the movies industry is directly responsible for the creation of new functional and symbolic landscapes and some innovative touristic territories.

O 18º Congresso Internacional de Biometeorologia (ICB2008)

Realizou-se entre 22 e 26 de Setembro de 2008, em Toquio, no Japao, o 18.o Congresso Internacional de biometeorologia (ICb2008). Este Congresso realiza-se de tres em tres anos, e organizado pela Associacao Internacional de biometeorologia e pretende essencialmente promover o encontro entre investigadores das mais diversas especialidades no dominio da biometeorologia/bioclimatologia, que estuda a relacao entre os seres vivos e as condicoes atmosfericas. Contribui igualmente para a partilha e discussao dos metodos e tecnicas utilizados e dos resultados obtidos ao longo dos 3 anos anteriores. Este ano, o tema geral escolhido para o Congresso foi “Harmony within Nature”, considerando a diversidade existente nas relacoes entre as sociedades humanas e a Natureza, evidentes na cultura, na civilizacao e nos costumes locais de cada area. Abarcando um dominio cientifico vasto e com uma forte componente de interdisciplinaridade, o Congresso de biometeorologia reuniu contributos das mais diversas areas cientificas – desde a Geografia a Medicina, passando pela zootecnia e Agricultura. As sessoes foram divididas por temas de acordo com as caracteristicas das comunicacoes propostas (bioclimatologia humana, turismo, bioclimatologia animal, poluicao do ar, clima urbano, etc.). Para alem das apresentacoes orais e em poster, decorreram tambem simposios de abertura para cada um dos temas e foi organizado um Special Joint Symposium, em conjunto com o Integrated Research System for Sustainability Science, com o intuito de discutir os problemas relacionados com as mudancas globais, intitulado “O papel da biometeorologia na ciencia da sustentabilidade”. O grupo de Climatologia do Centro de Estudos Geograficos da Universidade de Lisboa participou neste congresso com 3 comunicacoes orais (em que o orador foi o primeiro autor) e 3 posters: Comunicacoes Orais: – Oliveira S, Andrade H, Alcoforado M-J – Assessment of the bioclimatic comfort in different outdoor public spaces of Lisbon. – Andrade H, Alcoforado M-J, Oliveira S – Relations between personal characteristics and bioclimatic comfort.