Why does high temperature cause discomfort?

Rising temperatures are increasingly affecting the quality of life in many areas, creating new challenges for architects, urban planners and healthcare systems

Hari Dasari, the first author of the paper, said: “The living conditions in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia are particularly affected by climate change

The team studied the variability and trends of a measurement method called the Thermal Discomfort Index (DI), which is calculated based on temperature and humidity records collected from 1980 to 2018

Surprisingly, most cities in Saudi Arabia have improved their DI levels over the past 20 years, but Yanbu, Mecca, Medina and Taif are notable exceptions

Dassari said: "Many of us believe that the rising temperature caused by the rapid development of global warming and urbanization in recent decades should reduce people's comfort in Saudi Arabia

The increase in high temperature discomfort is mainly concentrated in the neighboring areas of the Arabian Gulf, including the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Qatar

Ibrahim Hoteit, head of the research team, said these findings will help regional authorities, engineers and architects plan the most effective developments in infrastructure, architectural design and medical interventions to improve the overall Safety and comfort of the area

"We now plan to develop an atlas DI value and risk map indicating trends through an online interactive visualization and analysis interface to provide non-expert users with real-time access and predictive systems to support the management of various outdoor activities and reduce chronic symptoms of health.

The team expects that the further development of this research will also be critical to supporting several large projects currently under development in Saudi Arabia, including the NEOM City and Red Sea Project and the AMAALA Tourism Initiative

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