Carpathian Basin climate according to Köppen and a clothing resistance scheme

Abstract

The Carpathian Basin climate in the time period 1971–2000 is analyzed in terms of the results obtained by the Köppen method and a clothing resistance scheme. A clothing resistance scheme is based on human body energy balance considerations taking into account human interperson variations as simply as possible. Interperson variations are considered by estimating human body somatotypes using the Heath-Carter somatotype classification method. Non-sweating, walking humans in outdoor conditions are treated. Environmental and human data are taken from the CarpatClim dataset and a Hungarian human dataset, respectively. Though the biophysical bases of the methods are completely different, the spatial structure of thermal climates expressed in terms of Köppen climate types and the clothing resistance parameter rcl are basically similar. A clothing resistance scheme creates more information than the Köppen method not only in mountain, plateau areas but also in lowlands. It is shown that more human thermal climate categories can refer to one Köppen climate formula irrespective of which Köppen formulae are considered. The magnitude and area heterogeneity of rcl is strongly sensitive to human somatotype changes. A clothing resistance scheme cannot be used in classroom applications; it needs to be drastically simplified while maintaining its sensitivity to somatotype changes in order to be competitive with the Köppen method.