Climatic heat stress studies at the Atlanta 1996 Olympic stadium venue, 1992‐1995

Abstract

Climatic heat stress measurements were made during 1992, 1993, 1994, and 1995 at the Atlanta Centennial Olympic Stadium construction site, using three commercially available heat stress monitoring devices. This venue will be the site of opening and closing ceremonies, as well as all of the athletics competition. The measurement periods were during late July and early August, the period corresponding to the planned 1996 Games competition days. Whereas the 1992 data were of a more general nature, and thus preliminary, in 1993, 1994, and 1995 detailed measurements were made at 5‐minute intervals during selected 4‐hour periods. The potentially high temperature, humidity, and radiant heating in Atlanta during the Games period to which athletes, spectators, officials, and media could be exposed warranted such detailed studies. Measurements included dry bulb temperature, wet bulb temperature, and black globe temperature. From these values, the heat stress index temperature was calculated. The time periods were i...