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Best Practices for Road Weather Management Version 2.0

Title:

Modelling of Road Surface Temperature from a Geographical Parameter Database, Part 1: Statistical

Abstract:

The variation of road surface temperature across a road network is influenced regionally by meteorological parameters and locally by geographical parameters. A fast and reliable technique is described which allows the continuous collection of high resolution, geographical data including the sky-view factor which is suitable for use in road climate modelling studies. Then, by use of regression analysis, the relative importance of five geographical parameters (altitude, topography, sky-view factor, landuse and road construction) is assessed with respect to road surface temperature and atmospheric stability. Results show that sky-view factors dominate surface temperatures at high atmospheric stability whereas altitude becomes increasingly important as stability decreases. Finally, a statistical road surface temperature model is discussed with the ability to explain up to 75 percent of the variation of residual road surface temperatures in the study area entirely by the interaction of geographical parameters.

Source(s):

Meteorological Applications of the Royal Meteorological Society Vol. 8, University of Birmingham Climate and Atmospheric Research Group (United Kingdom). For an electronic copy of this resource, please direct your request to WeatherFeedback@dot.gov.

Date: 2001

Author:

Chapman, Thornes, Bradley

Keywords:


Thermal mapping
Forecast/Prediction

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