Assessment of Atmospheric Impacts on Human Beings an a Regional Scale

Abstract

Methods of human-biometeorology have to be applied for the assessment of atmospheric impacts on human beings. Among the human-biometeorological effective complexes two are of great importance in the regional scale: the thermal effective complex and the air quality effective complex. A procedure for the physiologically significant assessment of the thermal environment is explained. It is based on thermal indices which are derived from the human energy balance. As an exemplary result a bioclimate map of Greece for the summer month August is presented which shows the pronounced spatial distribution of mean daily values of the thermal index Physiological Equivalent Temperature PET. With respect to the air quality effective complex, standards for the assessment of single air pollutants exist worldwide. In addition, approaches for statistical air stress indices and impact-related air quality indices were developed. Based on three-year air pollutant data from three different sites in SW Germany, the frequency distribution of the air stress index ASIBW is compared with the frequency distribution of the new air quality index DAQx. Both indices are on a daily basis. The varying forms of both frequency distributions are mainly caused by the impact-related concentration ranges of single air pollutants which are typical of air quality indices. Especially ozone has a stronger influence on the determination of values of air quality indices.