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The relationship between inside and outside ambient temperatures in Christchurch, New Zealand
P J Schluter1, P M Macey, R P Ford
1Department of Social and Preventative Medicine, The University of Queensland, Australia.
Insights
Indoor infant sleeping temperatures in Christchurch homes closely follow outdoor temperatures, lagging by about 2 hours. This strong association highlights the impact of poor insulation and lack of central heating on infant environments.
Area of Science:
- Environmental Health
- Pediatric Sleep Science
- Building Science
Background:
- Infant sleep environments are crucial for health and development.
- Understanding indoor temperature dynamics is vital for infant well-being.
- New Zealand homes often have poor thermal insulation and lack central heating.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the relationship between outdoor meteorological temperature and indoor ambient temperature in infants' sleeping environments.
- To identify factors influencing indoor temperature fluctuations in young children's homes.
- To quantify the association between indoor and outdoor temperatures in Christchurch homes.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of 15,735 hourly ambient room temperature recordings from 32 infants' homes (aged 2-24 weeks) in Christchurch, New Zealand (1991-1994).
- Comparison with hourly New Zealand Meteorological Service climatic temperature recordings.
- Application of autoregression modeling to assess temperature variability and lag times.
Main Results:
- Significant relationships were found between indoor ambient temperature and temperature seasonality, hourly climatic temperature, and their interaction (P < 0.001).
- Indoor temperature fluctuations lagged outdoor temperatures by approximately 2 hours, indicating strong autocorrelation.
- An autoregression model explained 97% of the variability in hourly indoor temperature measurements (r² = 0.97).
Conclusions:
- A very strong association exists between indoor and outdoor temperatures in Christchurch houses due to typical construction characteristics.
- Infant sleeping environments are highly susceptible to external climatic conditions.
- Findings underscore the need for improved home insulation and heating strategies to ensure stable infant sleep temperatures.
Abstract:
The objective of this study was to examine and identify relationships between hourly recorded meteorological temperature and ambient temperature, measured from within the home-sleeping environment of young infants' homes in Christchurch, New Zealand. From 1991 to 1994, home polysomnography recordings were conducted for up to 6 weeks on 32 infants aged between 2 and 24 weeks. One of the recorded signals was ambient room temperature. In total, 15735 hourly recordings of this temperature were available for analysis. The New Zealand Meteorological Service supplied hourly recordings of climatic temperature, collected over this time, from an exposed site that was considered to be representative of weather conditions for Christchurch. Temperature seasonality, hourly climatic temperature recordings and the interaction of these variables were found to be significantly related to the indoor ambient temperature recordings (all had P < 0.001). Fluctuations in hourly recorded indoor temperature appeared to lag outdoor temperature fluctuations by approximately 2 h; hence, a strong autocorrelation was identified in the regression residuals. The most parsimonious autoregression model accounted for 97% of the variability in the hourly indoor temperature measurements (r2 = 0.97). In Christchurch houses, which typically have poor thermal insulation properties, yet have no central heating capabilities, a very strong association between indoor and outdoor temperatures was clearly demonstrated.