On the Human Thermal Load in Fog

Abstract

We characterized the thermal load of a person walking and/or standing in the fog by analyzing the thermal resistance of clothing, rcl, and operative temperature, To. The rcl–To model applies to individuals using weather data. The body mass index and basal metabolic flux density values of the person analyzed in this study are 25 kg m−2 and 40 W m−2, respectively. Weather data are taken from the nearest automatic weather station. We observed 146 fog events in the period 2017–2024 in Martonvásár (Hungary’s Great Plain region, Central Europe). The main results are as follows: (1) The rcl and To values were mostly between 2 and 0.5 clo and −4 and 16 °C during fog events, respectively. (2) The largest and smallest rcl and To values were around 2.5 and 0 clo and −7 and 22 °C, respectively. (3) The rcl differences resulting from interpersonal and wind speed variability are comparable, with a maximum value of around 0.5–0.7 clo. (4) Finally, rcl values are significantly different for standing and walking persons. At the very end, we can emphasize that the thermal load of the fog depends noticeably on the person’s activity and anthropometric characteristics.