Determination of bioclimatic comfort in three different land uses in the city of Erzurum, Turkey

This study was carried out to determine the human bioclimatic conditions in rural, urban and urban forest areas in the conditions of the city of Erzurum, where an extreme continental climate type prevails. Data were obtained over a 10-month period and human bioclimatic conditions in these three different land-use types were evaluated using human bioclimatic indices, suitable for the data obtained. In the study, thermohygrometric index (THI), which assesses air temperature and relative humidity, and "beer garden days" index, which uses the days when temperature at 2 1:00 is over 20 degrees C, were used. While in these three areas "hot" and "comfort" ranges were determined to be 10% of the period, the number of "beer garden" days was only 20 days in rural, 15 days in urban forest and 18 days in urban areas of Erzurum. Consequently, it has been determined that the most suitable area for the human comfort in the conditions of Erzurum is in the urban area which is followed by the urban forest and the rural areas, both for each observation time and across the whole period. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.