See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/233759055

RayMan: A TOOL FOR RESEARCH AND EDUCATION IN APPLIED

CLIMATOLOGY

Article · January 2006

CITATIONS READS

7 1,222

2 authors:

Andreas Matzarakis Frank Rutz

University of Freiburg Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Solid State Physics
789 PUBLICATIONS 25,752 CITATIONS 97 PUBLICATIONS 4,552 CITATIONS

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

All content following this page was uploaded by Andreas Matzarakis on 28 May 2014.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

 8th CONFERENCE ON METEOROLOGY-CLIMATOLOGY-ATMOSPHERIC PHYSICS
ΑTHENS, MAY 24-26, 2006

RayMan: A TOOL FOR RESEARCH AND EDUCATION

IN APPLIED CLIMATOLOGY

A. Matzarakis and F. Rutz

Meteorological Institute, University of Freiburg, Germany

Abstract

The „RayMan“ model, which is presented here, is developed to calculate short wave and long
wave radiation fluxes affecting the human body. ”RayMan” estimates the radiation fluxes and
the effects of clouds on short and long wave radiation fluxes. The model, which takes complex
building structures into account, is suitable for various planning purposes in different micro to
regional levels.
The final output of the model is the calculated mean radiant temperature, which is required in
the human energy balance model and, thus, for the assessment of thermal bioclimate. It is also
relevant for thermal indices that facilitate the human-biometeorological assessment of the
thermal component of the climate.
Additional features, which can be used for the evaluation of climate in a region or for diverse
other applications, are: calculation of sunshine duration with or without sky view factors;
estimation of daily mean, max or sum of global radiation; calculation of shadow for existing or
future complex environments.
Here, several analyses for different scenarios, i.e. urban climatology and tourism climatology,
and different locations (Freiburg and Athens) are presented.

Applied climatology, biclimate, radiation, modelling

1. Introduction

Many climatic parameters and conditions are affected in their temporal and spatial
behaviour by the natural and artificial morphology on a meso- and micro scale. These effects are
significant on different levels of regional and urban planning, i.e. the tourism industry and also
the owners of holiday homes themselves, but they are also of importance for the planning and
design of tourism buildings, recreational facilities, urban parks, and a variety of other
applications. With some modification, existing methods for assessing climate in human
biometeorology and applied climatology can be applied a.e. to tourism climatology (Matzarakis
2001, Matzarakis et al. 2004).
For example, thermal indices that are derived from the energy balance of the human
body can be of great advantage for tourism and regional/urban planning. Standard climate data,
such as air temperature, air humidity and wind speed, are needed to calculate and quantify
thermal bioclimatic conditions (Höppe 1999, Matzarakis et al. 2001). The most important
environmental parameters used to derive modern thermal indices, however, are short and long
wave radiation (and the derived mean radiant temperature). These can be determined using
special techniques that have been implemented in several models. The RayMan model, which
has been developed for urban climate studies, has a broader use in applied climatology
(Matzarakis et al. 2004). Further outputs, such as sunshine duration and shadow, can assist in
the design and planning of recreation areas and the design of urban structures.

2. Methods

The model „RayMan“ estimates the radiation fluxes and the effects of clouds and solid
obstacles on short wave radiation fluxes (Fig. 1). The model, which takes complex structures

161
 8th CONFERENCE ON METEOROLOGY-CLIMATOLOGY-ATMOSPHERIC PHYSICS
ΑTHENS, MAY 24-26, 2006

into account, is suitable for utilization and planning purposes on local and regional level (Fig. 2
left). The final output of this model is the calculated mean radiant temperature, which is
required in the energy balance model for humans. Consequently, it is also required for the
assessment of urban bioclimate and thermal indices, such as Predicted Mean Vote (PMV),
Physiologically Equivalent Temperature (PET), and Standard Effective Temperature (SET*).
The development of the model is based on the German VDI-Guidelines 3789, Part II:
Environmental Meteorology, Interactions between Atmosphere and Surfaces; Calculation of the
short- and long wave radiation and VDI-3787: Environmental Meteorology, Methods for the
human-biometeorological evaluation of climate and air quality for the urban and regional
planning at regional level. Part I: Climate (VDI 1994, 1998). For the calculation of thermal
indices based on the human energy balance, meteorological (air temperature, wind speed, air
humidity and short and long wave radiation fluxes) and thermo physiological (activity and
clothing) data are required. Data on air temperature, humidity and wind speed are required to
run RayMan (Matzarakis et al. 2000, Matzarakis and Rutz 2005).

Figure 1. Main window of RayMan.

Additional features, which can be used for the evaluation of a region’s climate or the
development of new tourism facilities, are: a) calculation of sunshine duration with or without
sky view factor; b) estimation of daily mean, max or total global radiation; and c) determination
of shaded areas are output of RayMan.
When using the computer software “RayMan” (Fig. 2 left) an input window for urban
structures (buildings, deciduous and coniferous trees) comes up. The opportunity of free
drawing and output of the horizon (natural or artificial) are included for the estimation of sky
view factors (Fig. 2 right). The implementation of fish-eye-photographs for the calculation of
sky view factors is also possible. The amount of clouds covering the sky can be included by free
drawing, while their impact on the radiation fluxes can be estimated (Matzarakis 2001).
The most important question regarding radiation properties on the micro scale in the
field of applied climatology and human-biometeorology is whether or not an object of interest is
shaded. Hence, in the presented model, shading by artificial and natural obstacles is included.
Horizon information (in particular the Sky View Factor) is required to obtain sun paths
(Fig. 3 left). Calculation of hourly, daily and monthly averages of sunshine duration, short wave
and long wave radiation fluxes with and without topography, and obstacles in urban structures
can be carried out with RayMan (Fig. 3 left). Data can be entered through manual input of

162
 8th CONFERENCE ON METEOROLOGY-CLIMATOLOGY-ATMOSPHERIC PHYSICS
ΑTHENS, MAY 24-26, 2006

meteorological data or pre-existing files. The output is given in form of graphs and text (Fig. 2
right, Fig. 3 left and right).

Figure 2. Window for buildings and vegetation input (left) and data output for SVF and
sunshine duration in RayMan.

Figure 3. Example of sun path (left) and shadow (right) for June 21 for a complex environment.

3. Results and examples

The RayMan model can be applied for diverse applications. Results for radiation fluxes
can even be produced without any meteorological or climatological data. Thus, it is of use for
the quantification of sunshine duration at a given point with and without limited horizon (Fig.
3). Results for mean or total monthly sunshine duration can easily be presented for a variety of
environments (Tab. 1 based on the building and vegetation data from Fig. 2 and 3). The
calculations for a potential building and vegetation morphology presented in Table 1 have been

163
 8th CONFERENCE ON METEOROLOGY-CLIMATOLOGY-ATMOSPHERIC PHYSICS
ΑTHENS, MAY 24-26, 2006

carried out for Freiburg, Germany, in a latitude of 48 °N and for Athens, Greece (Table 2), in a
a latitude of 38 °N.

Table 1. Mean monthly daily sunshine duration without (Sdmax) and with horizon limitation
(Sdmn), Sum of monthly sunshine hours without (Dsumax) and with (Dsumn) horizon
limitation in h and the ratio between Dsumn and Dsumax for Freiburg, Germany, in a latitude of
48 °N . Urban morphologies (horizon limitations) are shown in Figure 2.
Month 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Sdmax 8.9 10.2 11.9 13.7 15.2 16.0 15.6 14.3 12.6 10.9 9.3 8.5
(h)
Sdmn(h) 1.0 4.4 7.5 8.0 8.3 8.6 8.5 7.8 8.2 5.7 1.9 0.3
Dsumax 275.5 286.4 369.0 409.8 470.5 479.3 483.6 442.6 377.9 336.5 278.9 262.1
(h)
Dsumn 30.2 121.8 231.8 240.1 256.7 257.6 264.5 243.3 245.2 175.7 58.5 8.8
(h)
Ratio 11.0 42.5 62.8 58.6 54.6 53.7 54.7 55.0 64.9 52.2 21.0 3.4
(%)

Table 2. Mean monthly daily sunshine duration without (Sdmax) and with horizon limitation
(Sdmn), Sum of monthly sunshine hours without (Dsumax) and with (Dsumn) horizon
limitation in h and the ratio between Dsumn and Dsumax for Athens, Greece, in a latitude of 38
°N. Urban morphologies (horizon limitations) are given in Figure 2.
Month 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Sdmax 9.9 10.8 12.0 13.2 14.2 14.8 14.5 13.6 12.4 11.2 10.1 9.6
(h)
Sdmn(h) 4.3 6.1 8.4 8.2 8.1 8.2 8.1 8.2 8.3 7.1 5.1 3.3
Dsumax 306.0 302.0 370.7 395.6 441.0 442.7 449.8 422.0 373.3 347.9 304.4 297.1
(h)
Dsumn 134.0 171.1 260.7 244.7 251.6 245.5 252.1 254.8 249.6 219.3 153.9 103.0
(h)
Ratio 43.8 56.7 70.3 61.9 57.1 55.5 56.1 60.4 66.8 63.1 50.5 34.7
(%)

Fig. 4 shows the trend of the Physiological Equivalent Temperature (PET) based on
daily data for Athens for the time period 1955 – 2001. The figure also shows calculations of
PET for individual seasons, the whole year and the tourism period (April to October) based on
monthly means.
Several scenarios were used to determine the meteorological parameters needed to
predict PET values. Future climatic conditions cannot be predicted with any degree of certainty,
as several unpredictable factors are involved. Future socio-economic and technological
developments will mainly determine the amount of human-induced emissions of greenhouse
gases. To get an impression of the range of possible climate conditions that may be common by
the end of the century, a range of scenarios developed by the Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change (IPCC) were used. IPCC undertook an exploration of the possible changes in
socio-economic conditions and population (IPCC 2000, 2001), which resulted in a range of
plausible scenarios (known as the SRES scenarios). Based on these, GHG emissions and
atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases could be estimated, which in turn have been
used to explore the response of the climate system. Among the four main SRES scenarios, the
A1F and A2A represent cases of rapid climate change, while the B1A and B2A scenarios
represent more moderate levels of change.

164
 8th CONFERENCE ON METEOROLOGY-CLIMATOLOGY-ATMOSPHERIC PHYSICS
ΑTHENS, MAY 24-26, 2006

Figure 4. Seasonal, annual and tourism period (April to October) trend of PET for Athens,
Greece for the period 1955-2001.

Table 3: Mean, maximum and minimum seasonal PET values for the Base, A1F and B2A
scenarios for the area of Figure 5.
Winter Spring Summer Autumn
Base Max 12 20 32.4 23.8
Min -5.1 6.8 18.8 8.1
Mean 3.9 14.2 26.8 16.7
A1F Max 17.7 25.7 43.5 32.3
Min -0.7 11.4 30.8 16.1
Mean 9.2 19.4 38.3 24.5
B2A Max 14.8 23.5 40.3 28.7
Min -2.6 9.9 26.9 12.5
Mean 6.7 17.5 34.8 21.3

The dataset of future climatic conditions was based on an integration of the Hadley
Centre’s HadCM3 model forced with the SRES emissions scenarios (Johns et al. 2003). The
HadCM3 model produces gridded data with a spatial resolution of 2.5º latitude x 3.75º
longitude, which is significantly coarser than that of the CRU 1.0 dataset. The used HadCM3
dataset consists of monthly averages for four time slices: 1961-1990, 2010-2039, 2040-2069,
and 2070-2099. All variables needed for the analysis were available from the CRU 1.0 and
HadCM3 datasets, or could be calculated from them. The analyses have been carried out for two
seasons and two time slices (i.e. intervals). The time segments represent seasons consisting of
the combined months of December, January, and February, and the combined months of June,
July, and August, coinciding with the winter and summer seasons in the northern hemisphere
and the southern hemisphere respectively. For the northern hemisphere spring is represented
through the combined months of March, April and May and autumn is represented through
September, October and November. The analysis has been carried out for the historical period
1961-1990 (CNTRL) and for the future period 2071-2100. The PET data have been recalculated

165
 8th CONFERENCE ON METEOROLOGY-CLIMATOLOGY-ATMOSPHERIC PHYSICS
ΑTHENS, MAY 24-26, 2006

into a higher spatial resolution (1 km) through the use of geo-statistical methods (independent
variables was latitude, longitude and elevation). For this purpose the digital elevation data of the
GLOBE data set (Hastings et al. 1999) built the basis.

Figure 5. Seasonal maps for winter (upper left panel) and summer (upper right panel) and the
differences of PET between the A1F scenario for the time slice 2070 –2100 minus control
period (1961 – 1990) for winter (bottom left panel) and summer (bottom right panel).

In table 3 the maximum, mean and minimum values of PET for the seasons in the
geographical area presented. The mean values for the CNTRL conditions are 6.3 °C lower for
winter and for 12.5 °C lower for the summer months. For spring and autumn the differences are
5.2 °C and 7.8 °C respectively. For the B2A scenario the differences are lower and range
between 3.8 °C for winter, 8.2 °C for summer, 3.3 °C for spring and 4.6 °C for autumn.

166
 8th CONFERENCE ON METEOROLOGY-CLIMATOLOGY-ATMOSPHERIC PHYSICS
ΑTHENS, MAY 24-26, 2006

Figure 5 shows the geographical distribution for CNTRL conditions (1961 – 1990) of
PET for the area of longitude between 19° and 29° E and latitude between 34.5° and 42 °N for
winter (upper left) and summer (bottom left). The upper and bottom figure on the right side of
Figure 5 shows the differences of the A1F scenario minus the CNTRL conditions of the left side
figures for winter and summer. From Table 4 and Figure 5 it can be extracted that the thermal
bioclimatic conditions are expected to change drastically based on the A1F scenario. For
summer covering changes more than three stress levels for summer in the southern part of the
study area and less than two levels for the northern part of the area. For winter the expected
changes are ranging between one and two stress levels in the south and one in the northern
parts.

4. Conclusions

The presented model provides diverse opportunities in applied climatology for research
and education. With readily available climate or meteorological data, such as air temperature,
air humidity, and wind speed radiation fluxes, as well as thermal indices for simple and
complex environments can be estimated. Additional information about clouds and global
radiation imported in the model can be the basis for a more appropriate estimate of the radiation
fluxes. Useful information in more detail can be derived in order to create climate oriented
dwellings and facilities for tourism resorts and urban planning. It can also be used for the
calculation of shade to be provided by special devices in tourism areas and resorts in order to
create more comfortable thermal conditions with protection from direct sunlight for tourists and
visitors.
From the human-biometeorology point of view the presented thermal indices can
describe and quantify not only mean conditions but also extremes like heat waves and other
climate and health issues.
In order to quantify bioclimate conditions for future scenarios, the model can produce
information through the use of global and regional climate model outputs. Through the use of
geo-statistical techniques and tools, the data can be regionalized and provide a more detailed
information on the spatial conditions of present and future climate conditions. Through the
implementation of different land use and their surface properties, a more appropriate and
realistic picture can be created.
When used for education purposes, the model can be applied in exercises as to how to
operate these models and in what way land and urban morphology influences short and long
wave radiation fluxes in simple and complex environments. Additionally, it can be used for the
comparison between experimental and modelling studies in teaching.

Acknowledgement

Thanks to the Hellenic National Weather Service for providing the data for the station of
Hellinikon.

References

Hastings, D.A., Dunbar, P.K., Elphingstone, G.M., Bootz, M., Murakami, H., Maruyama, H.,
Masaharu, H., Holland, P., Payne, J., Bryant, N.A., Logan, T., Muller, J.-P., Schreier, G.,
MacDonald, J.S., (eds.), 1999: The Global Land One-kilometer Base Elevation (GLOBE)
Digital Elevation Model, Version 1.0. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration,
National Geophysical Data Center, 325 Broadway, Boulder, Colorado 80303, U.S.A. Digital
data base on the World Wide Web (URL: http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/mgg/topo/globe.html).
Höppe, P., 1999: The physiological equivalent temperature in an universal index for the bio-
meteorological assessment of the thermal environment. Int. J. Biometeorol. 43, 71-75.

167
 8th CONFERENCE ON METEOROLOGY-CLIMATOLOGY-ATMOSPHERIC PHYSICS
ΑTHENS, MAY 24-26, 2006

IPCC, 2000: Emission scenarios: A special report of working group III of the
Intergovernmental Panel on climate change. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.
IPCC, 2001: Climate change, The Scientific Basis: Contribution of Working Group I to the
Third Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (eds Houghton,
J. T. et al.), Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, UK.
John, T.C., Gregory, J.M., Ingram, W.J., Johnson, C.E., Jones, A., Lowe, J.A., Mitchell, J.F.B.,
Roberts, D.L., Sexton, D.M.H., Stevenson, D.S., Tett, S.F.B., Woodage, M.J. (2003)
Anthropogenic climate change for 1860 to 2100 simulated with the HadCM3 model under
updated emission scenarios. Climate dynamics 20, 583-612.
Matzarakis, A., 2001: Die thermische Komponente des Stadtklimas. Ber. Meteorol. Inst. Univ.
Freiburg Nr. 6.
Matzarakis, A., Mayer, H., and Iziomon, M.G., 1999: Applications of a universal thermal index:
physiological equivalent temperature, Int. J. Biometeorol. 43, 76-84.
Matzarakis, A., Rutz, F., 2005: Application of RayMan for tourism and climate investigations.
Annalen der Meteorologie 41, Vol. 2, 631-636.
Matzarakis, A.; Rutz, F.; Mayer, H., 2000: Estimation and calculation of the mean radiant
temperature within urban structures. In: Biometeorology and Urban Climatology at the Turn
of the Millenium (ed. by R.J. de Dear, J.D. Kalma, T.R. Oke and A. Auliciems): Selected
Papers from the Conference ICB-ICUC’99, Sydney. WCASP-50, WMO/TD No. 1026, 273-
278.
Matzarakis, A., de Freitas, C., Scott, D., 2004 (eds.): Advances in tourism climatology. Ber.
Meteorol. Inst. Univ. Freiburg Nr. 12.
New, M., Hulme, M., Jones, P., 1999: Representing twentieth century space-time climate
variability. Part 1: development of a 1961-1990 mean monthly terrestrial climatology. J. Clim.
12, 829-856.
New, M., Hulme, M. and Jones, P.D., 2000: Representing twentieth century space-time climate
variability. Part 2: development of 1901-96 monthly grids of terrestrial surface climate. J.
Clim. 13, 2217-2238.
VDI, 1994: VDI 3789, Part 2: Environmental Meteorology, Interactions between Atmosphere
and Surfaces; Calculation of the short- and long wave radiation. Beuth, Berlin. pp. 52.
VDI, 1998: Methods for the human-biometerological assessment of climate and air hygiene for
urban and regional planning. Part I: Climate, VDI guideline 3787. Part 2. Beuth, Berlin.

168

View publication stats