Seasonal effect of pavement on outdoor thermal environments in subtropical Taiwan

This study investigated how pavement affects outdoor thermal environment during summer and winter in subtropical Taiwan. The experiment was carried out on five pavements in three areas of Taiwan. The results demonstrated no significant differences in average air temperature among several pavements except at noon time during the summer. The surface temperatures of the artificial pavements were 10 °C higher than those of the vegetation surface at noon during the summer. Of all the factors measured in this investigation, surface temperature was most closely correlated with air temperature. The calculated heat output reveals that heat conduction strongly influenced total heat output. The value of heat output was primarily determined by the proportion of heat conduction in heat absorption. The heat output also significantly affected the air temperature and mean radiant temperature.