Spatiotemporal Changes of the Thermal Environment by the Restoration of an Inner-city Stream

Spatiotemporal changes in the thermal environment in a large city, Seoul, Korea were analyzed using a thermal index, perceived temperature (PT), to standardize the weather conditions. PT is a standard index for the thermal balance of human beings in thermophysiological environment. For the analysis of PT, the data from long-term monitoring and intensive observations in and around the inner-city stream called 'Cheonggye' in Seoul, were compared with a reference data from the Seoul weather station. Long-term data were monitored by installing two automatic weather stations at 66m (S1) and 173m (S2) away from the center of the stream. Through the analysis of the data during the summer of 2006 and intensive observation periods, it was revealed that the stream's effects on the PT extended up to the distance of the S1 site. In winter, the increase of the PT between pre- and post-restoration was stronger at S1, which was nearer than S2 from the stream. These results suggest that PT can be used as an effective model in analyzing the changes of the thermal environment in relation with the changes of water surface areas.